Mutant Freaks, And Proud Of It!
by waytobefabulous
Summary: Submit your own flock member! CLOSED. Please read, though, tell me what you think! I'd love that!
1. Chapter 1

Want your character in a flock? Submit a person in a review, or PM, whichever you choose. Be creative; and I do NOT want to see people I've already seen in other stories, or personalities to similar to the one's in the original Flock. I'll accept** 4** people. Remember, the more details you put and the more interesting your character is, the more of a chance you have for getting in. I will be using one of my own characters in the flock as well.

Please use these guidelines:

Name:

Nickname (if one):

Age (between ages 7-16, no older or younger):

Hair color/length/ect:

Eye color:

Skin color:

Height:

Weight:

Wing Color: (yes, they must all be birds in this story)

Type of bird: (this will come in handy)

Personality: (NO less than 3 sentences)

Can I put them in a romance? (this will be a big part in this story—I'm all for romance)

Powers/Abilities/ect:

Strengths: (personality-wise and fighting-wise)

Weaknesses: (no less than two. All must have weaknesses, you know!)

What they love:

What they hate/can't stand:

Way they dress: (this will also come in handy!)

How they joined the Flock:

Anything else I missed:

There you have it, good luck!


	2. Almost There

Hey hey, guys! I'll make this short. So I've already chose two of the characters you submitted, and I need 2 more. I liked most of the people you submit, but guys, near ALL of you submitted girls ages 14 or 15…so what I need now is a boy under the age of 10, and either another young boy or girl. Again, be creative and thanks for your submissions! I was so happy when I woke up this morning with 12 people wanting their characters in!

Oh, and I'll update. Once I get my characters and start writing, I promise I won't just trail off…and if I do, you can yell at me all you want. I like that encouragement…..

So that's all, I'll be posting who I've chosen hopefully either by today or tomorrow, depending if I get the people I need. Thanks guys!


	3. Official Flock List!

Okayyyyy! So I've made my decisions!

First off is my own character, Savannah, age 14.

The rest are:

**Andrew Toys**, Age 4. Submitted by Integrity21. I was originally not going to take young members, but couldn't resist him! xD

**Harlow**, Age 16, submitted by Leela Morelli.

Also submitted by Leela Morelli was **Chase**, age 14. What can I say? I love her characters—here's a tip, guys, she put in lots of detail yet explained her characters really easy. Also had perfect grammar. I love that! :D

Next up is….drum roll, please, **Felix**, age 9. He was submitted by FangandIggyRule. ….I hear ya.

And last but not least, though I said I was only accepting one more, have decided to put one more person in her. Let's give it up for **Ash**, age 8. Submitted (twice) by Emika-Kun.

There you have it. And I really wish I could use more of your characters, I feel bad for not choosing others. Sorry!


	4. AN

Guys, so tomorrow I should be posting the first chapter of this story.

But for now, let me just say….I've been getting a lot of "you need more girls in the flock…" but guys, I have 3 boys, 3 girls, kay?

Savannah, Ash, and Harlow are girls. Chase, Andrew, and Felix are guys.

So just clearing that up. Again, I shall TRY to post the first chapter tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

Harlow's PoV

I sat back, watching my flock, feeling happy and peaceful for the first time in weeks. Savannah, Chase, Andrew, Felix, Ash and I were somewhere in Colorado, in a national park, around a campfire. Andrew was asleep in my lap, and I was gently stroking his fuzzy dark hair. The four year old had immediately crashed almost as soon as we landed, and I was glad for the time he could sleep. We rarely got to sleep any more, and though Andrew wasn't crabby a lot, when he did it wasn't pretty.

Felix and Ash were arguing, but it wasn't aggressive and it was actually kind of funny to see Felix's face grow redder and redder as Ash proclaimed on and on about how "totally wicked cool" Justin Bieber was. I almost felt a little sorry for Felix, because we all knew (except Ash) that Felix had a little crush on Ash. "I mean, seriously, it feels like he's totally singing to you!" Ash said, placing a hand dramatically over her eight year old heart. Felix rolled his eyes. "He's stupid. He sings like a girl."

Ash shook her head. "His voice got deeper. Besides, your just jealous your not as cool as him." She retorted. "Guys, cut it out." Savannah said in a weary voice. "You've been going at this all day. Here, let me settle it: Justin Bieber doesn't have wings, therefore he's not as cool as Felix. Felix can't sing, so he's no cooler than Bieber. See? It works out. Their both equal." Savannah said, but Chase and I both knew that she was just saying this for the sake of Ash. Felix was better than Justin.

Savannah and Chase, both fourteen and somehow both the leaders of our flock, were sitting on a log near the fire we'd built. "Can we change the subject?" Chase groaned.

"That was some battle against the Erasers today." I spoke up softly. Chase nodded. "I wish they'd leave us alone for more than two days, though. These fights are getting way to frequent. How do they keep finding us?"

"Because the School has tabs on us somehow." Felix said, slumping onto the ground and scraping some leaves together for a bed. "Yeah, but how?" Savannah asked, shaking her head. "That's a rhetorical question, meaning it's a question that doesn't need an answer, because we already know the answer!" Ash said, proudly. "I read that."

Chase looked at her weirdly. "Read it _where_? We've been in wilderness for weeks!" Ash laughed. "Yeah, 'cept for that one time when we went to the library because Andrew wanted a book about a red car, remember? I was reading a dictionary and found out what rhetorical question meant!"  
>"Where'd you hear that word anyway?" I asked. "Savannah said it. Chase asked her one day if she loved him and Savannah said that was rhetorical."<p>

There was a long, slightly awkward silence and I noticed Chase had stopped stoking Savannah's wing. Savannah stood up quickly. "Guys, we've got to get moving early tomorrow. Let's go to bed." She instructed. I smiled a little, pushing my brown hair behind my shoulder. Savannah and Chase liked each other, a lot, but neither of them were brave enough to give any major hints or tell each other how they felt. It was ironic they weren't brave enough, considering that they were probably two of the best fighters, and two of the bravest people in the flock. Except Andrew, he'd do anything.

I laid down, curling myself around Andrew's warm little body. I closed my eyes and didn't need to wait long before sleep came.

Chase's PoV

I couldn't sleep. Which I hated, because I hadn't had a good night of sleep for a long time, but I couldn't stop thinking about what Ash had blurted out. That conversation between me and Savannah was not meant to be overheard. My cheeks flushed a little as I remembered that day well.

It was about two weeks ago, after we'd fought against flyboys in a meadow in Georgia. I'd just crushed the kneecap of the last flyboy and kicked his chest hard enough for him to go flying backward and crash into a metal heap. Savannah had looked down at me and grinned, fluttering about twenty feet above me in the air. I say fluttering because it looked so graceful, even after she'd demolished a hundred flyboys brutally.

I leaped into the air, wincing a little from my aching shoulder. A flyboy manged to clip me just as I'd ducked out of the way from it's huge fist. "You hurt?" She called down to me as we both started to search for the rest of the flock among the piles of scrap metal in the littered field. "Shoulder. It kills. Got a bruised shin and probably a broken finger, but I'm okay. You?" I called back.

She shrugged. "Not really," but I could see the beginning of a back eye on her face. Then I'd spotted Felix waving hard directly below us. "CHASE! SAVANNAH!" He screamed. "GET DOWN HERE! ANDREW IS HURT!"

My heart pounded as I angled downward, slowing speed so as not to hit the ground. I landed, almost perfectly, stumbling just a bit. Savannah, more rushed, nearly tripped as she half landed, half sprinting through the air, running at Andrew.

If anybody else in the flock had gotten hurt, she wouldn't have been so worried. But Andrew, a four year old, no matter how tough, was a different story. Finally we reached Andrew, who was severely bleeding. My breath caught in my throat when I saw his leg. I looked over at Savannah, who was biting her lip hard, already tearing off her jacket and starting to wrap it tightly around his leg. "What happened?" She asked Harlow, who was cradling him, her looking very calm and collected. I loved that about her-you could always count on her to be non-dramatic.

"Flyboy got him. I'm actually impressed-Andrew destroyed him without making a noise." She said. Ash was stroking his little face. "It's okay, baby. You'll be fine." She whispered to Andrew. His lower lip was trembling and his eyes were full of tears. "I no baby." He said stubbornly. "Harlow tol' me I'm a big boy."

Savannah smiled. "Yeah, I know. You're a big boy, Andrew. I'm proud of you." She said. We stood, Harlow carrying Andrew. "Let's go, guys." I said. "We gotta get out before more flyboys show up."

I motioned for Savannah to hold back a little, fly with me behind the rest of the flock. "He's okay, right?" I asked, meaning Andrew. She managed a tight smile. "He'll be okay, I think. Given our super healing, I'd say two days and he'll be fine."

"Good." I said. "But also what I wanted to know-how much do you love this flock?" Savannah shot me a weird look. "What do you mean? I love all you guys a lot, you know that." She replied. "Yeah, but..." I struggled to say what I was trying to get out. "Do you...uh...like anybody a certain amount in this flock?"

I inwardly groaned. This was going south pretty quick. Why couldn't I just say this normally? Savannah avoided my gaze. "What?" She sounded slightly strangled.

Suddenly I came up with a weird way to put it. "You know how Felix likes Ash?" I said. "Yes. Are you trying to say you feel the same way?" She finally asked my question for me. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized how wrong that was, considering I didn't know what she was implying.  
>"Well yes, I guess I am." I admitted.<p>

Savannah sighed, deeply. "I get it."

This was bad, very, very bad. So, what do I do when all else fails? Make a joke. "So...do you loveeeee me?" I grinned, then brushed her wing to remind her it was a joke. She laughed. "That's a rhetorical question."

Now, laying by the slightly dying fire, I tried to make sense of that. Her last words then could have gone either way-either implied that she did or didn't like me.

We'd dropped the subject, not bringing it up since then. And when I was stroking her wings an hour earlier, I'd done it in a totally friendly way, nothing more than that. And we both knew it. I hoped.

I had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, but dreamed of Andrew dying. I woke up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, while Felix was on guard. He'd fallen asleep, and grudgingly I propped myself up against the tree to keep watch instead. I was haunted by my dream-I couldn't imagine what it meant.

Suddenly my blood ran cold as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jackknifed to my feet and whirled around, hands automatically clenching into fists. It was a flyboy, standing there, pointing a gun at my head. I let out a yell and was ready to punch it out of it's hands when I felt a blow to my head from behind me. I couldn't help but scream, and I remember _someone please help me_ being my final thought before everything went black.

**Hey! So there's Chapter 1. And I know there wasn't that much action, but this first chapter was mostly to show what the relationship status's were with everybody, you know? So please tell me—how'd you like it? Am I getting the flock's personalities right? REVIEW! **


	6. Chapter 6

Savannah's PoV

When I heard a scream, my eyes flew open and, on instinct, I leaped up in the air. The first thing I saw? Chase, lying on the ground, moaning. And behind him, holding a lead pipe? A perfect, beautiful looking pre-morphed Eraser.

"Harlow! Ash! Felix!" I screamed, already rushing towards the Eraser. I heard the flock jump up behind me as I leaped into the air, roundhouse kicking the Eraser who'd just nearly knocked out Chase. It stumbled back, and I punched it wildly, half-blinded by fury. "No. One. Touches. My. Flock." I spit out, snatching the pipe out of it's morphing claws. I jumped off it, breathing heavily, looking around. "Chase!" I yelled. "Are there more?" No answer. "ARE THERE MORE?" I screeched, not daring to pause to see if Chase was alright.

Ash and Felix were flanking either of my sides and I saw Harlow hoisting up Andrew into a tree to protect him. "No!" Andrew was crying, "no! I want to fight the bad guys! Harlowwww!" "No, A-A, stay here. Your job is to protect yourself." Harlow was saying soothingly.

So far, I couldn't see any more enemies, and I calmed down a little. "Felix. Ash. Go search the area in a half-mile radius, make sure no one's here." I commanded quietly. They both nodded, a little shaken. Ash fled to the right and Felix to the left, and I was proud to see firm determination on their faces.

I turned my attention towards Chase, dropping myself behind him. "Chase. Chase, wake up." I pleaded, patting his face gently. He stirred a little, but his eyes stayed closed. "Chase!" I said again, letting my voice get a little louder. Suddenly his eyes opened, and groaning, he tried to sit up. "Careful." I warned, helping him stumble to his feet. He leaned against a tree.

"F-flyboy." He managed, touching the back of his head gently. "Ow." I shook my head. "Chase, that was an Eraser." I said, while examining his head. Oh, gosh, that was one heck of a lump. "No, it was a flyboy." He said. Gritting his teeth, he let me touch his head to examine it better. "Look." I pointed to the dead, half morphed Eraser a few feet away.

"I-I saw a flyboy." Chase stuttered. He pointed towards the woods. "Over there." I blinked. "Just one?" Chase nodded.

"We've got to get out of here. ASH!" I yelled. "FELIX!" I didn't care how loud I was being-if there were more flyboys or Erasers or M-geeks or whatever, we needed to fight somewhere where we had an advantage. Meaning-anywhere but the woods in the middle of the night.

Andrew hopped out of the tree, grinning and raising his little fists. "I gunna fight now." He insisted. "Maybe you can, honey, maybe you can." I replied, as Harlow took his hand. Chase and I covered the embers of the fire, just when Felix and Ash came back. "I-saw-something." Ash wheezed. "Yeah, me too. I don't know what it was. Can we fight?" Felix added.

I nodded. "We're leaving here, first. Ready?" The rest of the flock nodded, and I counted down. "3...2...1...NOW!" I yelled, and we all ran and leaped into the air, stroking our wings powerfully to get altitude. "Ugh!" I heard Chase say. "I have a monster headache."

Normally, I would have told him to suck it up, but I let it pass this time. I guess anyone would have a headache if they were slammed over the back of the head by a pipe. Also normally, that would have killed a human. But-we're not all human. Not only are we three to four times stronger than the average human adult, we also have supernatural healing powers. Chase would be over his headache in an hour, probably. I didn't feel too bad for him. After all, this kind of thing happens all the time. You tend to get used to it.

We flew, extremely fast and hard, knowing the flyboys and Erasers were trailing about two miles behind us. "There!' Harlow called, motioning down towards a huge hill.

"Alright, guys! Let's land and get this over with!" Chase said, and we headed towards the hill, landing quite gracefully.

"Okay, everybody, I don't know how many robots and stuff we're battling, but prep for the worst, got it?" I said, getting into battle-mode. This happened way to often. "Hey Savannah?" Ash asked, "can I try that new thing I learned, where I confuse their minds so much that they like die?"

My eyebrows rose. "What?" I asked. "I don't remember you-never mind. Go ahead, do what you like as long as their dead, and you're alive." Andrew hopped up and down excitedly. "I'm gunna get them." Harlow and I looked at each other. "Don't let them get you, though." Harlow said. Andrew solemnly shook his head. "Don't be scared about me."

Felix sighed. "I wish we didn't have to do this." Chase ruffled his hair. "I know, buddy. None of us do, but it's what's gotta be done." He said sadly. "But why?" Felix said, frustrated, crossing his arms. I heard the enemies getting closer. "Because that's the way life goes. And none of us like it, but we're mutant freaks, and they want to get us." Harlow said.

Felix's PoV

I didn't want them to think I was whining, so I shut up after what Harlow said and concentrated on getting ready to fight the Erasers. Honestly, I hated and loved this at the same time. Hated it because it happened nearly every day. I hated hiding in caves or in the woods and always being afraid! I hated not being able to sleep at night, for fear of being attacked, but mostly I hated being hurt all of the time.

But on the other hand, I loved the thrill of the battle. I loved not having to stay in a house all the time, going to school, and doing chores. What a boring life! The flock was always on the move, and Savannah and Chase promised we could go to California sometime soon.

I saw Erasers, flyboys, and M-geeks charging towards the hill. "Wow! They really outdid themselves today!" Ash said with a grin. "Yeah, but can we beat them?" Harlow said with a frown. Nobody spoke for a minute. Then, feeling suddenly empowered, I stuck my hands on my hips and raised my head high. "Of course we can beat them!" I yelled. "We're the flock! We can do anything!"

Savannah grinned and nodded at me. "That's right. There seems to only be about-70 or so...Um...That's not so many, we can kill 'em all." I looked down the hill again and the quickly approaching enemies. "Wanna know something? We have an advantage 'cuz we're at the top at the hill and they're at the bottom." I remarked. Andrew looked down at them too. "Can we drop something on their heads?" He pleasantly asked.

Chase's eyebrows rose in amusement. "We don't have anything to throw, I don't think. But that was good thinking, A-A." Savannah handed Andrew the lead pipe. (A/N..go read that sentence again. LOL she handed a four year old a lead pipe! xD) "You can hit them with this, though, kay?" Andrew clutched it in both hands. "Yay!"

"Alright! Here they come! Let's do this!" Chase shouted, and we charged at the wall of bad guys, yelling like maniacs. Oh wait, we are maniacs! Haha!

I swung my fists left and right, having no real agenda except destroying every robot in my path. "Ugh!" I cried, stumbling backward as an M-geek's fist connected with my stomach. Pain shot through, but, jaw clenching, I ignored and and swiped my foot at it's ankles, and it went down immediately. Kicking it's ribs, I finished him and turned towards a flyboy to take it out.

We were grossly out numbed, but these guys were quite easy to defeat. Suddenly, I had an idea. Jumping into the air, I flew about five feet over their heads, then started kicking the flyboys, M-geeks, and Erasers on their heads. It was effective, and worked a lot better than using my fists, which by now were aching and bleeding. While still mowing down guys, I looked over and saw little Andrew, surrounded by guys, but he was swinging the pipe and taking down tons. Savannah and Chase were working as a team, just like they did for everything. They were back to back, slicing and chopping and kicking down flyboys by the dozen. Harlow had an odd, serene expression as she fought, destroying them almost gently. At least that's how they looked.

I scanned the area for Ash, but I didn't see her. Smashing in the skull of one last Eraser, I turned rapidly around, trying to find her. Then, I heard the slightest scream. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, and I could tell that the rest of the flock didn't hear her. Suddenly, I saw a flash of maroon amongst the glaring silver of the M-geeks. I pulled in my wings, letting myself drop quickly, landing square of the shoulders of a flyboy who was about to crush Ash's foot with his.

"Ash!" I grabbed her arm and hoisted her upright, as tears ran down her cheeks. "It-hurts." She choked, clutching her wrist. "Stay behind me!" I shouted, punching a Eraser square in the jaw. It swung for me but I dodged, jamming my knee in it's shin. It howled and fell, and I broke its neck, looking away.

I jumped in the air again, motioning for Ash to do the same. There were only three guys left, two M-geeks and one flyboy, which Andrew and Harlow took care of immediately. Without a word, Chase, Savannah, Harlow, and a proud-looking Andrew whipped out their wings and followed us up, up high into the air.

When we had reached about a thousand or so feet, we stopped, hovering in the air. "Great job, everybody." Savannah said with a tired smile.

**...And there's chapter 2! Like it, or no? REVIEW!**

**Also, what do you want for the next chapter?**

**-more fighting**

**-more romance**

**-more them just having flock fun **

**-all or none of the above. **

**Thanks! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Ash's PoV

"! Yay yay yay, going to californnnnnnnnniiiiaaa!" I sang, managing to do a happy dance while flying at fifteen thousand feet in the air. "Will you SHUT up already?" Felix growled. "You've said that like fifty thousand times!" I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm just excited!"

Andrew joined into my singing. "Fornia fornia fornia going to fornia its so funnnn!" Felix moaned, and flew ahead to Chase and Savannah, who were about forty or so yards ahead, probably in their own little world. They were so cute... I felt bad about embarrassing Chase after mentioning the whole "rhetorical question" incident, but sometimes I can't help the things that just come out. After a few minutes of quiet flying, Felix drifted back to me, Harlow, and Andrew.

"Aw, they're boring. I don't get what they're talking about." Felix said. "I guess I'll just haveta listen to you guys." Harlow smiled a little. "What were they saying?" She asked. "Yeah! What was it?" I echoed. Felix shrugged. "Something about what they wanted to do when this whole thing was over."

A look of apprehension and concern flickered through Harlow's dark brown eyes. "Oh really?" She said, voice steady. "What exactly were they planning on doing?" Andrew flew close to Harlow. "Do they want to go away?" He asked quietly. Felix shook his head. "Don't think so, Andrew. Har, they were saying something about Maryland. I don't know why...But...I.." He glanced at Andrew. "Why don't we talk about this later?"

Harlow and I both nodded. Andrew, a kick-major-robot-butt fighter, tough as nails kid, was still four years old. There were things he wouldn't understand-didn't need to know yet.

Suddenly Chase and Savannah dropped back to us. "Hey guys. We'll be in Cali in about four hours with the speed we're going, and it's getting close to dawn. We'll sleep the first chance we get, okay?" Savannah told us. I nodded. "I'm so tired." I said. We'd only got to sleep for about three hours before the flyboys, M-geeks, and Erasers attacked us, and my eyelids were dropping, even through my excitement about going to California.

Finally, finally, after about two more hours of flying, I couldn't take it. "Savannah?" I said quietly, "can we stop now? Please-I can barely keep my eyes open." Savannah wasn't looking to good herself. She looked at Chase, and he gave a little nod. "Okay, let's stop." She said. We curved downwards, tucking in our wings a little to get more speed. Once we reached about three hundred feet, we glided slowly over the towns and cities, finding a good place to land. "How about there?" I suggested, pointing down at a huge, fancy looking hotel. "Ash, we don't have the money to for that." Harlow reminded me.

"Yeah, I know." I said, only a little disappointed. Well, there was no harm in asking. "Zoo!" Andrew suddenly screamed, then started dropping altitude like crazy. "Andrew!" I screeched, flying after him before any of the others could move. "What are you doing?" In a few moments I caught up to him, because I was older and faster, and have been flying longer than him. I turned vertical and dropped about four feet under him, then caught him quickly. "No!" Andrew yelled, struggling to get away from me, but I held him tight.

The rest of the flock caught up to us. "A-A! Don't do that again!" Harlow scolded. Andrew managed to kick me in the knee, and howling, I dropped him. The four-year-old snapped out his wings again and hovered, instead of diving down again. "But...zoo!" He cried out, pointing. Savannah and Chase glanced at each other, and then Savannah groaned. "He means the San Diego Zoo." She said. "It's right down there."

We all looked. There was a huge zoo below us and to the right, and I could just barely see some animals from up here. "I wanna go." Andrew insisted, pushing out his lower lip determinedly. Chase shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea." He said slowly. "If we went there, and flyboys or whatever showed up, we'd be putting lots of people in a lot of trouble."

Then weirdly, unexpectedly, my chest constricted. That wasn't fair! I felt angry, and upset. My eyes filled with tears. "I want to go to the zoo, too." I choked. "Its not fair. We never get to do anything fun anymore." Harlow flew over to me, as close as she dared without being hit by my 10 foot wings. "I know its not fair. It's just like Felix was saying earlier, but we can't control that." She said gently.

That made me only cry harder. And trust me, I don't cry a lot. In fact, I usually pride myself in not crying a lot, but right now I felt like I had to. "I don't care anymore! I want to go have fun for once." I said tearfully. "Ash, honey, you're freaking out from lack of sleep." Savannah said.

I shook my head. "I'm not!" But I knew she was right. "Please, please, Savannah. Please can we go?" Savannah raked her hand through her choppy, red-gold hair. "You know what, okay, fine. We can go." My heart lifted a little. "Really?" Savannah's lip twitched into a half smile. "Yeah. _After_ we sleep, though."

Andrew also cheered happily, but Felix looked a little unhappy, and Chase must have noticed that, because he suddenly grinned and said; "We'll do something you want, too." He suggested. "Yes!" Felix shouted, pumping a fist into the air and accidental flipping over backwards. Harlow laughed. "This sounds great."

Now, all of us in a better mood, flew down to a large park and found places to sleep in trees.

Chase's PoV

When we woke up, the sun was pink in the east. I sat up quickly, startled. "Uh, guys?" I asked, shaking them awake, "I think we just slept for the entire day. And night. And now it's the next morning." I said. Savannah blinked and squinted at the sun. "You're...right. Wow." Harlow sat up and stretched. "I feel so much better." She murmured, and we all nodded our agreement. Andrew jumped up. "Zoo! Now! Lets go to the zoo!" He insisted.

I was smiling on the outside, but groaning on the inside. I hated the zoo-hated the smell and bunch of whiny kids all over the place, and I wasn't to fond of the animals. Twenty minutes later, we were all at the zoo, looking at the giraffes. "This is so-" I was about to finish and say 'retarded' but Savannah quickly shot me a look that changed my mind. "-awesome." I finished lamely. She grinned teasingly at me.

Meanwhile, Andrew was draped half way over the bars that separated us and the giraffes, his mouth opened wide. "It's so big!" He whispered in amazement. "Hey, wanna know something about giraffes?" Felix said. "They can clean their ears with their tongues 'cuz their tongues are eighteen inches long." Ash shot him a look. "That's totally disgusting." She said. Felix blushed a little, and I felt bad for him. He hated to say weird things in front of girls he liked.

"Well, I think it's cool." I threw in. Felix looked at me thankfully. "See?" He glared at Ash. "Your a girl, that's why is gross to you." Ash shook her head, brown hair flying around. "But girls are sooooo much better than boys!" I could tell where this was going-downhill. "Let's not argue about this...girls and boys are equally cool, got it?"

Savannah was looking a little bored too, so I nudged her with my hip. "Giraffes live in a land called the savannah. How ironic." I winked at her. She nudged me back. "You're so annoying." She said, but she didn't sound very annoyed. By now, Andrew was running towards the lions across the brick path.

We all turned and followed him, and so we did for the next hour. We'd only gotten a quarter way through the zoo, but Felix insisted we leave so we could fit in everything we wanted to do today. Andrew whined a little, but he'd stopped immediately after Ash announced she chosen that we go see a movie. "Which one?" Savannah asked.

"We have, like, 200 dollars we stole from that one guy from Itex last week." Harlow reminded us. "Um...how about the Justin Bieber one?" Ash suggested hopefully. Naturally, as one might expect, everyone but Andrew shouted "NO!" At the same time. "But..." Ash started to protest, and I sighed. When Ash wanted something, Ash would beg and complain till she got it. "Justin Bieber is the totally coolest best singer in the whole world and I love him so much and I would just absolutely DIE if I got to watch him for two whole hours!"

"And I'd throw up if I watched him for two whole hours." I muttered under my breath, but Ash heard and half glared at me, half pleaded with her eyes. I looked at Savannah, who looked at Harlow, who looked at Felix, who sighed. "I guess-I guess-" Felix struggled to get out, "that..maybe..seeing it wouldn't be so bad."

Ash cheered and threw her arms around Felix. "Thank youuuuuu!" She shrieked. "I SO love you!" Felix blushed again and looked down, but he hugged Ash back. "Now, will the rest of you guys pleaseee come?" She begged. "Yeah, fine, okay." Savannah said, throwing up her hands. "We'll see the movie, but if we throw up Ash is cleaning it up." She said with a slight smile.

_2 Hours Later_

"I've got "Baby" stuck in my head." Savannah groaned as we walk out of a theater about two miles from the zoo. I grinned at her. "I'll bet you if you bash you're head against a rock it'll go away."

Savannah glared at me as Ash rambled on and on over "OMG THAT WAS SO AMAZING! I totally cried, guys, did you?" "No." Harlow said firmly. "That was awful." Felix nodded. "Sorry, Ash, but it was."

Ash rolled her eyes and dismissed our thoughts with a wave of her hand. "Whatever. Let's just say I totally owe you one." Andrew held Ash's hand. "I liked it. She sang pretty." He said nicely. I couldn't help bursting out laughing. "What time is it?" Harlow asked, and Felix glanced at his watch. "Noon exactly. What's the next thing we should do?"

We all looked at each other. "Um...why don't we go to the beach?" Savannah suggested. "We don't have any swimsuits or anything, though." Ash said. "We could go get some. There's a mall not to far away."

I grinned. "In California _everything_ is 'not to far away.'" I said. "I like the beach." Andrew said. "Beach beach, beach, fun fun fun." He started singing. "Okay, guys, let's go." Savannah cut in quickly before Ash joined him in song.

So once again our flock was up in the air, heading over to the mall Harlow saw somewhere. "Oh-wow." Savannah said, as we stepped inside the of the hundreds of entrances of the mall. "This place is HUGE." Ash gave an unimpressed shrug. "Yeah, but it's not as big as the Mall of America, in Minnesota. It's the biggest mall in the U.S, you know. It has it's own amusement park inside it!"

I rolled my eyes. "How do you even know that?" I said, but then realized it wasn't a good question to ask. Ash found some way to know everything. "So...where do we find swimsuits and stuff?" Felix asked. "Probably in every store." Savannah laughed. We walked into the closest one to us. "Remember guys, we're going in, getting what we need, and going out." I specially directed this towards Ash. "We're not looking around, got it?" Ash sighed. "Kay, fine..."

A surprising half hour later, we were back all up in the air, swimsuits under our clothes. It'd taken much less than we'd expected. Harlow had helped Andrew, I helped Felix, and Savannah and Ash had kind of helped each other, considering Ash had a weirdly girly fashion sense.

"Look! There it is!" Ash shrieked, just about throwing herself out of the air and spiralling down towards earth. We all followed, shooting down after the excited girl, but once we got near the beach we slowed down and landed a little way's away from the beach, so to look normal. Thankfully yet surprisingly, there were only a handful of people there, bearing in mind it was a school day for most normal people.

Still, we stayed away from the other people, mostly so we could stretch our wings and let them cool off. The three youngest kids immediately leaped and dove into the warm saltwater. "Watch Andrew, guys!" Savannah hollered after them, then flopped down onto the sand, laying out on her stomach and unfolding her beautiful golden wings. I laid out near head, smiling at her. "If only we could to this all the time."

Savannah matched my smile. "I know, that'd be awesome. I wonder when all the flyboys and M-geeks and junk will be gone." I shrugged. "Hopefully soon. Then maybe...maybe this whole thing will be over." I sighed, smile turning wistful. "Someday."

Then I got up. "Hey, come with me." I said, Savannah jumped up and followed me over to massive bolder about twenty yards away, and we both climbed on top. "I want to try something." I said, and my heart started pounding.

I leaned over, placing my hand on her face and drawing it towards mine, just like I'd imagined doing for months. I hesitated only a second, glancing into Savannah's wide, confused eyes, and slowly pressed my lips against hers. Her eyes fluttered then closed, and it was like everything I'd ever imagined, yet better somehow because it was actually happening.

It seemed only like a moment before it was over, Savannah was pulling away. "No, no, this can't happen." She whispered, looking frightened. "Why not?" I asked softly, dread and disappointment flooding through me. Savannah looked down, shaking her head. "We're the leaders, Chase. You and I, we hold this flock together. If we-you know, are together, just imagine what's going to happen to the flock." I took her hands in mine. "Nothing would change. We would still be best friends, and leaders together."

Savannah looked into my eyes. "Are you sure? I don't want us to accidentally neglect the rest of the flock or anything." I smiled again. "Savannah, I've...To be honest, I've been in love with you for months. Years, actually, and now I'm wondering; does it seem like I'm neglecting the flock while being in love with you?"

Savannah blushed deeply. "I guess not." She whispered, glancing down again. I tilted her face back up with my fingertips. "See?" Then I kissed her again, without even thinking. Which wasn't good, because I still didn't know if she wanted this. There was one, long, agonizing second where Savannah didn't move, but then suddenly she relaxed, kissing me back. If this is as close to heaven as I'd get, I wanted to be here forever.

We kissed for a few minutes, but then I realized we had to get back to the flock. With much effort we pulled away, and we couldn't stop smiling. "We should go back." Savannah whispered, eyes still closed. "Mhhmm." I said, kissing her lips again. Then she actually moved away. "Like..now."

I helped her down the rock, but we almost subconsciously moved away from each other a little as we headed back down the beach. Harlow was smiling-no-smirking at us as she dried a shivering Andrew off. "You could have at least gone _behind _the boulder." She teased. I rolled my eyes, about to make a smart remark back, but noticed Felix and Ash were gone. "Hey, were are Ash and Felix?" I asked, squinting at the ocean water, trying to see them.

Harlow motioned towards the jungle-like terrain behind us. "They went exploring." She said. Savannah looked worried. "Maybe we should go after them, you know? Anything could be in there." I nodded. "Alright...Harlow, you can stay here if you want." Harlow nodded. "I'll keep an eye on Andrew."

Andrew was already piling up sand. "I'm making a castle." He announced. I patted his shoulder. "We'll be right back."

We headed out into the jungle terrain, pushing our way through the thick brush. "Ash!" I called. "Felix?" Savannah held up a hand. "Wait...do you hear that?" She whispered. I cocked my head, and heard the faintest giggling sound. I motioned for Savannah to follow me, and we tiptoed in the direction of the sound.

Savannah pointed to a tree, and sure enough, Felix and Ash were behind it. We saw them before they saw us, and when we did see them, my mouth dropped. "Wh-" was all I managed to stutter out. Apparently, Savannah the Leader recovered quickly. "WHAT on EARTH do you think you're doing?" She shrieked. Felix and Ash jumped guiltily away from each other,

Savannah grabbed Felix's arm and roughly pulled him upright. "Could you tell me WHY you were kissing Ash?" Her voice growing louder and shriller with each word. Felix looked scared, fearfully and numbly staring up at Savannah. "Uhm-" He squeaked. I touched Savannah's wrist, "let him go." I told her gently.

She looked over at me, back at Felix, to me once more, than dropped Felix. Ash stood up, and though her face was white, helped Felix up and took her stand next to him. "I don't see what the big deal is." Ash said, voice shaking. "The big deal is that-"

"Savannah," I said, cutting her off, "you talk to Ash, I'll talk to Felix, okay?" She looked at me in doubt for a second, but then shrugged. "Okay."

Savannah's PoV

"Ash, you're eight years old. You cannot just go around kissing boys, even if it is Felix." I said, trying to make her understand. Ash's face was defiant. "But you like Chase, and you kissed him today."

I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering all to well. "There's a difference." "Difference how? You like Chase and he kissed you, and Felix liked me and he kissed me." Ash protested. "Look, I am six years older than you. Eight-year-olds are NOT allowed to kiss. In fact, you shouldn't even be liking boys. Its not right."

Ash looked down. "Yeah, maybe..." While I had her attention for two seconds, I continued. "And besides, it's much nicer to be friends with boys anyway. Felix always has your back, we both know it, and you should keep it that way as friends for awhile, okay?" I told her.

Ash nodded. "Kissing him was kind of yucky anyway." She admitted. I bit my lip, trying not to get a mental image of that. "Good. It's yucky, Ash, it is." I nodded quickly, thinking of how un-yucky it was with Chase.

"So promise me you won't go-um-kissing Felix or anything anymore, okay? You'll just stay friends?" I asked, trying to keep the hopefulness out of my voice. Ash nodded, wrapping her skinny arms around my neck in a big hug."Yeah I promise."

Felix's PoV

I sat with my hands folded in my lap, not wanting to meet Chase's piercing eyes. "I just want to know why, Felix. I promise I won't get mad." He said, but he did sound a little bit mad. "You sound mad." I pointed out. Chase leaned back with a sigh. "Really, I'm not. I'm just _concerned. _You can't kiss girls, Felix."

"But _why_?" I asked, not understanding. "What's the big deal?" Chase closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Because little kids can't do that. They shouldn't, it's really not right. You and Ash need to be friends, and that's all."

I mumbled something to myself, and Chase leaned closer. "What'd you say?" I blinked and looked him in the eye. "I said, why are you not just friends with Savannah?" Chase's eyes grew wide. "What? Felix, that's different. We're older." I shook my head. "It's not different! Who cares if you're older? I once read that age doesn't matter for love."

"Love? Love?" Chase sputtered. "You are NINE years old, Felix. You can't be in love with someone when you're nine." I crossed my arms. "Yet you can be in love when your fourteen?" I retorted. Chase looked shocked. "I-I'm.." He shook his head. "Okay, here's the thing, Felix. Sometimes, you don't understand what love is when you're...well, your age. See, love isn't just a warm feeling you get when you see someone. It's more than that-it's always having their back, always sticking by them and willing to do anything to protect them. You know?"

I looked down. "I have Ash's back. And I stick by her, but...maybe you're right." I said quietly. "I just think I like her. A lot." Chase laid a hand on my shoulder. "And it's perfectly okay to like her, but more in a friend way. And trust me, Felix, I know all about crushes. And though you may have a crush on Ash, don't act on it, buddy. It could ruin your friendship."

We stood up, and I jammed my hands in my pockets. We'd come to some understanding.

**OKAY so that was a LONG chapter...sorry...do you want it shorter next time? Anyway, how'd you like it? REVIEW! Also, make sure to let me know what you want in the next chapter, and ideas are always appreciated. **

**I LOVEEEE using you guy's characters, they are so much fun and I feel like they're my ownnn 3. haha...okay, next chapter, whatever it be, I PROMISE that I will put one in Harlow's point of view. And...I haven't done a PoV for Andrew, but...I'm not exactly sure how to, if I can portray a four-year-old's actual point of view. So...suggestions? haha, well, once again, REVIEW! They make my day! **


	8. Chapter 8

Harlow's PoV

Something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, exactly, but something was up-not right. I scanned the beach, propping myself up on my elbows, and my eyes wandered to Andrew. He was playing about thirty yards away, near the water, building a sandcastle. The rest of the bird kids were walking towards me, all with different expressions. Savannah looked angry, but also something in her eyes looked contrary then her normal air. Instead of the usual mix of authority, concern, and snarky humor, she looked almost slightly dazed, happy.

Happy in not a normal way, per say, but in a way that implied she'd just been, for example, _kissing Chase. _Chase looked almost the same way, but he also was frustrated, and a little embarrassed. From what, I'd have to ask him later. Felix and Ash both had their heads down, and I noticed they were avoiding each other. I broke the silence. "So...what happened?" Chase looked at Savannah, who glared down at Felix and Ash. "Nothing." She said pointedly. "We'll talk about it later."

Ash sat down. "Sorry, Chase, Savannah." She muttered. Chase draped an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay, just don't do it again." I narrowed my eyes. "Don't do _what_ again?"

"We won't, we promise." Felix added, and his face was red. "What are you talking about?" I asked again, a little louder. "Good." Savannah said, but she smiled a bit. I leaped up. "Someone tell me what's going on!" I yelled. The flock's heads all turned towards me. "What's wrong?" Chase asked. I crossed my arms, wanting to cry. "I'm sick of you guys ignoring me and making me feel like I'm not important. I'm sick of you all acting like I'm not here, and none of you want to talk to me anymore. I'm sick of being Andrew's mom. I love him to death, but I'm doing everything! Can't you guys be responsible?" I shrieked, then jumped up into the air, flinging out my wings, and flying away from them.

When I was about ten thousand feet high and about thirty miles safely away, I let tears fall where none of the flock could see me. I hated feeling this way; but sometimes I couldn't help it. When you needed to cry, sometimes it was better to cry rather to store up all that emotion, I found. So I cried. The wind whipped in my eyes, freeze-drying my tears to my face. It stung, but almost in a good way. After flying for fifteen or so more minutes, I didn't want to fly anymore, just curl up somewhere and scream. Or cry. Or both.

I swooped downward in a large arc, scanning the ground for a place to land. I spotted a field amongst the abundantly rolling hills, and gladly landing there. The air was cooler in this slightly higher altitude than the beach, but still warm. It was quiet, very quiet. The only sounds I heard here were few birds chirping, the faint sound of a stream nearby, and the rustling of grass. I sat, tucking in my wings. I was subconsciously being quiet, as if being loud would disturb this part of the hushed earth. (A/N-oh, so poetic, right? xD)

I ran my fingers across my face, brushing away stray tears. I closed my eyes and fell forwards, laying on my stomach and feeling the sun warming my neck. I sighed, wishing I could stay here for awhile.

After many minutes, a thought crossed my mind that had entered before. What if I left the flock? No, this wasn't some spontaneous thing, it'd occurred to me many times.

I didn't feel needed. I don't know if I am a hindrance to Chase and Savannah, now that I think about it. I'm older than they are, therefore resulting in me being expired first, most likely. I'm quiet, and certainly not as well as a fighter as them. A shiver coursed through me, and I felt scared. Trying to remember all my past years with the flock, I closed my eyes shut tightly, rubbing my temples. None of the times _I'd _been the hero. I'd never personally saved anyone, or make quick, amazing escapes or had any brilliant plans.

I clenched my jaw so tightly it ached, to stop the tears that fell. They. Didn't. Need. Me. The only reason they'd probably kept me with them is because I took care of Andrew, I was his "mom."

Even thinking about this broke my heart.

Suddenly, I felt a thin, bony hand touch my back, right on my wings. Mostly running on instinct, I leaped up, snapped my wings open and hands gripping into fists. What I saw made me feel terrified and full of complete, utter wonder: it was a wrinkled, old, smiling man who looked around 70. He was wearing a white loose, dirty shirt and black pants and shoes. He had a little white hair, and a long white beard. Twinkling blue eyes that also smiled, and a few teeth missing. But what surprised me most was the fact that he had _wings._ Pure and white wings that were so pure and white I almost had to squint while looking at them when the light hit.

They nearly sparkled; they were so bright and beautiful. "W-who are _you_?" I couldn't help saying in surprise. The old man grinned so widely his eyes were slits. "I'm Horace! Who are you, child?"

His voice was old-sounding (A/N if that makes sense hahaha) and very, very friendly. "Uh...Harlow." I replied. This man seemed harmless, so I didn't see any point to lying. And even if he was evil, he looked to frail to really do much damage. Looks could be deceiving, though, so I decided to be careful. "Well, aren't you a young, pretty thing!" He exclaimed, slapping his knee with a hysterical laugh. I didn't understand what was so funny-did he have something wrong with his mind? "Thank you." I replied, forcing a smile on my face.

He nodded, placing his hands on his hips. "Now, what's a bird-child like you doing without a flock?" My mouth dropped. "I-um...have a flock." I muttered. "Why aren't you with them? One should never travel alone, you know. Facing enemies are hard enough when _with_ a flock." He told me. I nodded. "I know, but I-" I took a deep breath and raised my chin confidently. "I'm quitting my flock. They don't need me."

The man, Horace, looked disappointed. "Now that's just wrong, child. Every person in every flock needs each other." I shook my head, trusting this man, for reasons I didn't understand. "Mine doesn't need me. I'm not the best fighter, I never have good plans, all I do is take care of the four year old." My eyes stung.

Horace pursed his lips. "You know, taking care of the young child is one of the most important things can do in a flock." I blinked. "How so?" I asked. "Most avian-humans can fight, because of powers they have or natural abilities. They are _created_ to fight, created to be better than the rest. Very few have the ability to be a mother, since most of the recombinant life forms don't have mothers, so little have the touch. Do you have the "touch", child? " He asked with a small smile.

I looked down, never thinking about it that way before. "I suppose...that I do. It feels very natural being a mom of sorts, anyway." Horace nodded. "See? Let me guess-you are the oldest in your flock, but not the leader."

I looked up with a frown. "Yes, how did you know?" I asked carefully. Horace waved his hand. "Educated guess. It makes sense-a leader is not quiet or shy, like you are." I was a little surprised that he judged me that quickly, but it was true. "And about your age, well, the Institute started a new generation of recombinant avian-humans seventeen years ago, and you seem about fifteen or sixteen. So, scientifically speaking, you _must_ be the oldest in your flock."

I blinked. "Well, yes. I am. There are two leaders in my flock, a boy and a girl who are both fourteen." I said. Horace smiled again. "So why exactly are you here?" I frowned. "I got fed up with my flock. They were ignoring me and stuff and I just kind of snapped."

"You should go back." Horace said seriously. I shook my head. "I-can't. They don't want me. I'm the weakest link." "Why don't you just ask them? If they don't want you, I mean." My eyebrows rose at his statement. "I can't just ask them, they wouldn't tell the truth, obviously." I pointed out. Horace nodded slowly, "That may be true, but I doubt it. Think about it, child, if they didn't want you, your flock would have kicked you out long ago, or at least made you stay behind during missions."

I'd never thought about that before, either. This man was giving me some kind of hope that I hadn't thought about before. "I under-" Before I could finish the sentence, a tall, slim, Caucasian girl had practically materialized at the edge of the meadow-she came so quietly I hadn't heard her. She wore a frown, a knife was in her hand, and she was looking at me menacingly.

Apparently, Horace saw me staring and also turned around. "Indianna!" He called, motioning her over. "You came back quicker than I expected!" The girl walked towards us with sharp, precise steps that made me think of a military commander. "Who are you." She asked, or rather- demanded an answer-with a scowl. "Uh-Harlow." I stammered. Horace shook his head. "Pardon Indy. She is rather-harsh." Then turning to Indy, he shook his finger at her. "Please be nicer to our guest. And please remove that scowl, too."

Indy opened her mouth like she wanted to protest, but then closed it, rolling her eyes. "Whatever." She said. I offered a slight smile. "Hi." Indy thought for a second, then returned a slightly-sarcastic smile. "Hi. What are you doing here."

I was a little surprised at her abruptness. "I was just _being_ here." I tried to explain. "Then Mr-um-Horace-came." Indy raised her eyebrows. "Gotcha." She pushed her long, hazelnut hair over her shoulder. "You're a bird kid?"

I shook out my wings just a little to show her I was. "Abandoned my flock." I joked a little. Indy didn't think that was funny. "Why'd you leave?" "They didn't want me." I said shortly. "Ahh, that's where the question is!" Horace said, raising a finger. "We don't know that for sure."

"So...what are you planning to do? Stay with us?" Indy said in a biting tone. "That, in fact, is a rather fine idea!" Horace said happily, clapping his hands together. "At least for a few days, so you can get your feelings sorted out about your flock!" I glanced at Indy out of the corner of my eye. "Would...you mind?" I asked hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Horace said, at the same time Indy said "duh we'd mind!" They both looked at each other, and I could see them debating each other with their expressions. Finally Indy turned to me and sighed. "I guess a few days won't hurt, will it?"

Felix's PoV

"I can't believe Harlow is GONE!" Ash wailed, throwing her head dramatically into her hands. Savannah patted her head a bit. "She'll be back, she just probably went to cool off. I didn't get what was wrong with her, though, did anyone else get it?" We looked at each other. "Uh, we were kind of ignoring her." I offered.

Chase frowned. "Yeah. Maybe she felt like she was left out." Ash looked up. "I don't think she wants drama, do you?" Savannah shook her head. "Nope. We were kind of leaving her out, right?" Our conversation trailed off, seeing as though none of us had an answer for that.

Chase stood up, brushing sand off his cargo shorts he'd gotten. "So, we ready to take off?" He looked at the sky. "It's probably around two o'clock." "Can we go laser tagging?" I asked. Ash's mouth dropped. "YES YES YES, pleeeeeeease can we?" She begged with me. Chase grinned. "Our day of fun couldn't be complete with out it, don't you agree, Savannah?" She frowned. "I guess we can..." "YAY!" Screamed Ash, and I cheered too.

We headed down the beach, grabbed a protesting Andrew, and jumped into the air, flying away from the beach. I decided that I didn't want to go back there, because of the whole incident with Ash. I didn't like the beach much, anyway. "So where might we find a laser tagging place?" Savannah asked. Chase grinned. "I think I've said this three times before, but this is California! We'll find it somewhere."

Turns out, we didn't find it until about twenty minutes of searching. Actually, we went to a kiosk thing on a main road to find out. But when we got there, all that searching seemed totally worth it. When we walked in, it was all dark but had neon flashing lights. There was a bored, female employee draped at a counter and a group of teenage boys who looked around seventeen or so across the room. We walked over to the counter. "Hi." The employee said lazily, not bothering to smile. "Hi. Us four want to play." Chase motioned to us, and Andrew was already gazing longingly at a playroom with toys for little kids, I assumed. (A/N-i doubt these exist, but...sorry, no laser tagging for four year olds xD)

The girl nodded. "You guys wanna play alone or with those guys?" She nodded her head towards the teenagers. "With the teenagers." Savannah said, with a slightly evil grin. "Yo, Andre!" The girl yelled at the teens, and one of 'em sauntered over. "What up." He said, bored voice matching the girl's. "These kids wanna play you and your gang." She looked back at us. "Y'all are gettin' your butts kicked." She added.

I almost could laugh, 'cuz I knew she was wrong. If we could easily destroy swarms of Erasers and Flyboys and M-geeks, we knew some gymnastic and ninja moves, then shooting a few guys with plastic guns would be easy. "We'll see about that." Ash said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the worker in a very innocent, little girl way.

She never did that to me.

The teenage boy, Andre, leaned over and put his face near Chase's. "Easy win." He snarled with an evilish grin. Chase raised his eyebrows in a super cool confident way. "Hope you like losing." He retorted.

Savannah's PoV

I couldn't help but laughing as the teen guy backed away from Chase a bit, surprised at his confidence. I stepped next to Chase and glared daggers into the guy's back, while his friends watched. He spoke to them for a moment, then all the guys laughed at us, I assumed. The employee, who had a name tag that read _Azure, _looked slightly interrested now as she walked us over through a black door into an equally dark room. It had weird, dimmed lights, and the whole thing kind of reminded me of a kids play land, except much bigger, and more intense. I grinned as we suited up in this bulky chest pad thing, and Azure handed us guns. Ash had insisted on the pink one.

"Savannah?" Felix touched my arm softly. "What about Harlow?" He whispered. I looked down at him and all his nine-year-old-ness. His chestnut hair was messy but clean from the ocean, and his hazel eyes looked so concerned even in the dark. I suddenly felt really bad for yelling at him earlier, after all, he was just a kid! I resisted the urge to gather him into my arms for a hug, because we were in front of a bunch of obnoxious teenagers. "She needed her time to be by herself, I think." I replied quietly. "She wouldn't want to do this."

Felix nodded, still looking troubled. "You ready to kick some teenage butt?" I asked him with a wicked smile, distracting him. Felix grinned. "Yeah." He said, semi-enthusiastically. "They're going DOWN!" I patted his shoulder. "That's the Felix I know."

"Okay, guys, I think we all know the rules." Azure said, looking bored again. "No running, climbing, physical contact. Be careful. Have fun." Then she left the room. "Bye." We looked at the teenage boys, automatically assembling some sort of cool Flock pose. "No wings." I muttered to them. "No showing, no drawing them out. Got it?" They all nodded. "This is gonna be SO much fun." Ash giggled.

I stepped forward. "You guys ready?" I (ahem) graciously asked the boys. One of them, not Andre, (A/N-AHHAHA i just realized how much "Andre" sounds like "Andrew"...whoops!) stepped forward. "Oh, we're more than ready. What'dya say we make bet on this, huh?" He smirked. My eyes flickered over to Chase, who nodded. "Remember, we're bird-kids." Chase whispered so only we could hear, "we can beat anyone." Then louder he said, "go ahead, Savannah, raise the stakes high." Then lower again, only to me, "freak 'em out." I grinned. "If we win, each of you guys give us twenty bucks." There were seven teenagers.

The guys laughed. "Easy win! And if we-pardon me-WHEN we win-" the main guy turned to the rest of his gang, talking to them in hushed tones. Then he turned back to me. "You guys buy my gang pizza, while the oldest girl-" he nodded towards me, "goes on a date with me."

Immediately, I felt Chase stiffen. "Deal." I said without hesitation. "Deal!" said Andre. We shook hands, and I used my super bird-kid strength to all but crush his hand. I saw his face whiten in pain, but he didn't make a sound. He ripped his hand away. "You've got three minutes to plan." He said, voice wobbling a little.

I walked away with my flock to the opposite side of the room, and Chase took both of my wrists and faced me. "Savannah, what are you doing!" He muttered urgently. I flipped my wrist so my hands were in his. "It's okay, Chase," I said calmly, "you said it yourself, we can win." He leaned his forehead against mine. "I know, I just don't like it...what if they cheat or something, and they win?" I shrugged. "I don't know, but it won't happen. We'll find some way to do this."

Slowly, Chase pressed his lips on mine. I let the kiss linger only a second, because Ash and Felix were standing right there. Thankfully, they were not paying attention to us, but instead Felix was showing Ash how to work the laser gun. I broke our lips apart. "Why are you doing this." I whispered. Even in the dark, Chase's white teeth gleamed. "Just in case." He said teasingly. Ahh, Chase. Always the humor. I loved him.

I stepped away from him, lips warm and tingling. "Alright, flock. You ready to do this?" Felix raised his hand. "Hey, I've got the best idea ever. We can soooooo beat them."

We huddled like football players, arms around each other's waists as Felix told us his-can you say brilliant?-plan. "Felix, have you done this before?" I asked, knowing he hadn't but he seemed so experienced that he could have. "Nope, but I've always wanted too." Felix laughed, and just then, the lights dimmed even more till we were almost in pitch black, which was absolutely no problem for us bird-kids, and our handy-dandy raptor vision.

"Three." A robotic, playback message filled the room, beginning our countdown. I tensed, suddenly getting a crazy-awful flashback about the School, and it's experiments.

"Two." A cold, icy chill swept down my back as I pushed memories away, reminding myself this was ONLY a game, and we had to win this.

"One." By now I was in full-out battle mode, and so was the rest of my flock, holding their guns.

"Begin!"

**Ooooh, cliffy! Sort of... not really. **

**So, there you have it. Don't think it was as long as the last one, but it has some pretty important stuff that happened. So...yes. REVIEW! 3**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay...so, I haven't been laser tagging in two years. So if this chapter is retarded, that's why. xD **

Chase's PoV

Turns out, laser tagging was way easier than we expected, and the teenage guys didn't expect us to be that good. "Ash!" I hissed, motioning her to cover my back as we crept through a twisted corridor of sorts. She giggled. "OMG this is fun I'm so glad we could do this! Are we winning? How do you even tell who wins?" "Shhh." I reminded her. "We determine who wins by which teams has more shots. We add it up at the end." I whispered. Ash was about to say something else but I raised my hand, and we both went dead still, listening intently.

We were trained to do this; _made_ to do this, and it served us well against the clever but not at all stealthy teenagers. I heard one clomping down a passageway that connected to ours, and, as if Ash and I had the same thought at once, pressed ourselves against the wall and crept to the intersection of the passageways. The footsteps were getting closer, and I nodded at Ash that it was her turn to do this.

Right when the game started, Ash, Felix, Savannah and I had naturally split up into groups; Savannah and Felix, me and Ash. I worked better with Ash because I was less uptight than Savannah, and when Ash got annoying...Let's just say I was able to handle her much better. Plus, the both of us kind of had the same sense of humor. Savannah and Felix worked well together. because they were more focused, more intense, like... Nazis or something. Except not evil. And not focused on the whole "super race" thing.

Then Felix had told us his plan-we divide and conquer of sorts, surrounding them and herding them towards the center of this huge, huge room. Sure, maybe we were taking this a _tad_ to seriously, but, as I liked to put it, it was "good practice for real life". Our real life, more like it. I doubted any normal person needed to worry about fighting and being on the run all the time, having to survive.

At the moment, Ash had on the most adorable "I'm ready to destroy you" face, tense and ready to leap out into the path of the oncoming teenager. Being the supreme expert of timing that I am, I closed my eyes and slowly ticked down my fingers from five to when she should attack. At one, Ash sucked in a deep breath and gave a battle cry, jumping out in front of the teen, pointing her pink gun at him, and shot him directly on his chest on the protector. The guy protested with a "HEY GOSH WHAT the heck are you doing?"

For extra measure, Ash kicked his knee sharply. "Playing the game. What, an eight year old can't beat you, I don't think so!" She laughed. The guy reeled back, rocking in pain. "You are a vicious little girl." He growled, unable to attack her back because his light was still blinking, meaning he couldn't shoot until it stopped. Ash bowed dramatically. "Thank you." She shot a quick glance at me and I stepped out, gun pointed at him. "Move. Backwards, now." I commanded sharply.

The guy looked confused, unable to understand why kids much younger than him were suddenly winning. Then,the light on his chest protector stopped blinking and he raised his own gun. "I don't think so." He snarled.

Ash and I looked at each other. "Not meaning for this to sound like a total threat, but...we could seriously hurt you. I suggest you do what we say." I said, sounding semi-pleasant. The boy, obviously not believing me, let his gun swing to the side and started towards me, free hand raised back into a fist. Before he could even think about what he was going to do next, I lunged at him, leaping into the air, and roundhouse kicking his chest. Yes, I somehow managed to do it in this small hallway. Anyway, I made sure to do it not hard enough to break his ribs, just making him fall backwards, gasping for air, looking stunned. "Crap." He wheezed. He glanced around on the ground, finding his gun, and picked it up and aimed for Ash.

Ash saw what he was about to do and unfortunately didn't have time to drop to the ground or somehow block the laser beam before it hit her, and she gasped. "OMG Chase he GOT me!" She shrieked. I nodded. "Sweetie it's okay, that's how it works." I reminded her, trying to decide whether kicking the gun out of his hands would be against the rules or not. I knew physical contact was not allowed, but I'm pretty sure no one cared anyway and the teenagers had already cheated a few times.

I decided against it, and wanted to regroup with Savannah and Felix to see how they were doing. So once more, just to get that valuable extra point, I shot the boy once more and signaled Ash to get out of here. Ash, bless her little heart, did NOT kick the boy, but I could feel the vibes that wanted to. Instead she stared at him with her evil death glare and whirled around, running off behind me.

"Where's Savannah and Felix?" I muttered as we hurried through the maze of corridors and barriers and all sorts of other things, trying to get to the center of the room. "I don't know!" Ash said, blinking chest pad finally stopping. Suddenly I felt a hand snake out and grab my wrist and yank me sideways through a door. It was Savannah, who looked very concerned. "Ugh. The teenagers keep cheating, and I'm starting to get worried." She admitted.

I took some deep breaths, half paranoid about teens finding and shooting us with [laser] guns any second, and half hyperventilating because I was in a dark room, this close to Savannah, with her hand still on my arm. Noticing that I wasn't particularly concentrating, Savannah let go of my arm and backed away a little. "Chase? What do you think?" She asked again. I hadn't heard her the first time.

"What? Oh yeah. Uhm...how are they cheating?" I managed. Felix spoke up with annoyance laced into his voice. "One of them punched me. It didn't hurt, cuz, like, I'm special, but it was still cheating." Savannah looked troubled. "And one-er-tried to distract me." "How so?" I asked. Savannah didn't reply for a long moment. Then she gave me a look that implied "let me tell you later". I gave a slight nod, and pulled Ash closer into the shadows. "Ash, tell him how the guy we ran into was cheating." Ash crossed her arms. "There was this teenager, yeah? And he like called me VICIOUS! I mean seriously? Anyway, Chase told him to back off, but then the jerk starts like coming AT Chase like he's gunna attack him. So, like, Chase does this SUPER EPIC roundhouse kick and the guys like on the floor looking all like "OMG"." She took a huge breath and continued, and Savannah's eyebrows were raised, and Felix looked only slightly interrested. "And THEN, he shot me!" She wailed in a whisper. If that's possible... "So Chase shot him then we got out of there and then we found you guys."

Felix stared at her. "You done?" He said after a moment. She nodded, raking a hand through her hair. Savannah shook her head. "That's not good. Okay, guys, so Felix's amazing plan isn't exactly working-" Felix's face fell, and Savannah quickly fixed that sentence. "However, it wasn't his fault. So, let's come up with something else."

We all thought for a second. "I'll bet Harlow would have an idea if she were here." Ash mumbled. Savannah sighed. "After this we'll go look for her, kay?" She said gently. Ash nodded. "I'm just getting worried." "Guys, why don't we worry about Harlow in about a half hour. Right now, we're facing life and death-I mean-getting money or Savannah going on a date with one of those creeps. So let's focus." I said encouragingly. Savannah shot me a brief, grateful smile. "Exactly. So anyone got a new plan?"

We went silent again, but after a few moments I spoke up. "Got it...guys, how about this. Felix and Ash go and sneak around the other side of the room and charge the boys from the back, while Savannah and I shoot 'em from the front?" I suggested. "Yes!" Felix exclaimed. He and Ash scurried out of our little hiding place, and just when I was about to follow them Savannah whispered "wait".

I stopped, and Savannah leaned backwards against the wall, dropping her head in hand. "Chase...one of 'em...tried to kiss me." I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me, and I could hardly believe what I heard for a second. "What?" I stammered. She nodded and pressed a hand against her mouth. "I don't know which one it was, though." She mumbled through her fingers. Then Savannah looked up at me, eyes filling with tears. She rarely cried or got emotional about stuff like this, so I was surprised and confused. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked gently, taking her in my arms.

She pulled away, shaking her head and swiping at her eyes. "Nothing. Come on, Ash and Felix will be wondering where we are." I took her hands in mine. "They can wait a second."

Ash's PoV

"Feeeeeeelliiiiixxxx!" I shrieked, hands clawing frantically at one of the boys who'd actually _lifted _me up and threw me over his shoulder. "That is sooooo against the rules!" I protested. The guy laughed, not in a nice way. "Shut up. Gosh, you're such an annoying brat."

I was dying to unfold my wings, launch off of the boy and fly away from him and this game as far as I could go, but I couldn't. Savannah said no wings. So instead, I tried to quickly remember all the battles I'd been through where I had been the attempted victim of a kidnapping. Not too many times, fortunately, but an idea came to me. Once, Felix had showed me where the pressure point was in someone's shoulder, and I jammed my finger into this teenage boys. "WhaaAAAA!" He screamed, and it was like really funny because he sounded kind of like a hyena or something. Then I punched his jaw as hard as I could as he dropped me, and, just because that was how the game was played, I shot him with my laser gun.

I had a feeling we were winning, because when I glanced over at Felix, he was shooting the boys left and right, using totally wicked gymnastic moves to avoid getting hit himself. I was SOO impressed; he looked amazing! Then I remembered I wasn't supposed to like him. Oh well.

For a second I wondered where Savannah and Chase were-they said they'd come back us up, and right know we were in the middle of the huge room, ALL seven of the teenagers against me and Felix. Then I remembered Chase instructing me to ALWAYS get someone's back when surrounded by enemies more than you. "Yo, Felix! Come here!" I called, dropping onto the ground momentarily to block a laser then quickly scramble to my feet. He darted over to me, and I said "get my back! we can fight guys better that way!"

We both turned and went back to back, shooting guys until Felix gasped. "Ash, um...I found a really really good way to cheat." He whispered. "What is it?" I asked. Felix cleared his throat. "You can deflect lasers with your hand."

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that! At that moment, one of the boys aimed at my chest and before the laser could reach, I threw my hands forward. Sure enough, it deflected the laser and it stopped on my hand. My mouth twisted into a grin. "You cheater!" The guy yelled, but I shrugged. "That's the way this seems to be going." I called back.

Before anything else could happen, there was an alarm-like sound that made my heart leap and terror fill me. Whenever you heard anything like that at the school, it was really bad. Suddenly lights flooded the room, making me squint my eyes. "The game's over." Andre said, already starting to shrug out of his gear. "Um...okay." I said, confused over the sudden change of attitude.

"I'm going to like to see your ugly face when you lose" One of them said haughtily.

Sudden change of attitude? Wait...never mind.

"Well...um...your face is already ugly so I hate seeing it already." I replied. It really didn't make any sense, but it sounded kind of mean, therefore it was good. Felix glanced at me weirdly, pulling off his chest protector. "What she means is that you shouldn't bet on it." I shot him a look of appreciation. I took off my own chest pad thing, walking over near the door to get out of this room and hanging it up. Then I tossed my gun on the rack. "Yeah. Exactly. Don't bet on it." I snarled.

"Hey, where are your teammates? The girl and guy." One of the less-jerk-of-a-guy asked. "Chase? Savannah?" I called, then after a second, Felix and I walked back over to where we met up a few minutes ago. "EWWW!" I said, covering my eyes and turning away. "You guys...ugh! Can't you please NOT do that?" "I agree with Ash." Felix grumbled. "This is LASER TAGGING, not... "Ohhhh I'm going to go kiss in a corner!"" He mimicked Chase's voice. I giggled, and they broke apart. "Uhm...sorry. Got distracted." Savannah said, sounding a little strangled.

"You should stop getting distracted." Felix suggested. I nodded seriously. "What if something bad happened?" Savannah and Chase looked guilty. "You're right, guys." Chase finally said. "We'll stop." I clasped my hands together, shaking my head. "Nooo that's not it...We don't want you to _stop, _exactly.."

"Uh, yes we do." Felix reminded me. I nudged him away. "No. See, I like that you guys are in love." I admitted. "It's cute but it also makes me happy 'cuz you guys aren't happy a lot. Mostly worried or snappish a lot of the time. But it isn't your fault! It's the Erasers and Flyboys and M-geeks and all the scientists and bad people. So, seeing you guys happy makes _me _happy." I took a deep breath after that, surprised at how much honesty came out there.

"Well." Savannah managed to choke out. Then she smiled a little at Ash. "You know Ash, that kind of means a lot. Thanks."

"Uh, like, sorry to break this emotional moment or whatever here, but I have the scores." Azure, the employee lady said, holding up a slip of paper.

Harlow's PoV

"How old are you?"

I tucked my hands between my legs, shifting uncomfortably. This girl, Indy, had been grilling me for almost fifteen minutes, shooting off question after question. "Sixteen. I'm pretty sure." I replied. Really, this wouldn't have been to bad if it weren't the for the fact that Horace, the older man, had left to go get food, or something. Being with Indy, though two years younger than me, was still slightly intimidating.

"Who are the people in your flock?" Indy was starting to warm up to me, I think, because the edgy tone in her voice had softened a little. "There's a four year old, an eight and nine year old, and then two fourteen year olds." I said. "Names?" She prompted. "Andrew, Ash, Felix, Chase, and Savannah." I answered, without thinking. Ugh, probably would've been better to not say anything. Indy nodded slowly. "And you left because they didn't want you?"

"I think." I decided to be on guard again. Horace seemed trustworthy. But this girl...I didn't know about her. "I really wasn't the best fighter or anything. They just had me be the "mom" to Andrew." I said. Then I wondered about the flock. I'd been gone for almost two hours. I wondered if they cared, thought about coming after me, or what they'd thought about it. Knowing Savannah, she'd probably _not _come after me, knowing that I needed space. She kind of sensed things like that.

"No one isn't important in a flock." Indy said in a low, un-harsh way. I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." Then I creased my eyebrows. "I have a few questions for you now." Indy crossed her arms. "Okay, go ahead." I was a little surprised about her willingness but asked away.

"How is Horace still alive? I don't get it. Weren't avian-humans supposed to...um.._retire_ before they got old?" My voice dropped, even though Horace wasn't anywhere near us at all. Indy frowned. "Yes. However, my grandfather is a Generation 1 mutation. Back then, they didn't give them expiration dates. Or, if they did, his just never kicked in."

Wait a second..._grandfather? _"What do you mean by grandfather? Is he actually related to you?" Indy shook her head. "Not by blood, but...well..you know how a flock calls each other a family? Horace broke in and rescued me from the school when I was very, very young. He and I formed our two-person flock, and I'd started calling him grandfather. It just stuck." She explained.

For a moment I wondered why Indy was opening up so much, but then I remembered. Either it was some enhancement or just my natural personality, but people liked me. They just did. (A/N-I think, to get a mental picture of this, think of Jasper from Twilight)

"Horace is old, so how would they have the technology to create recombinant life forms?" I wondered. Indy pursed her lips. "You'd be surprised at the stuff they were capable of back then. Horace was born-I think that's the right word, in 1941, during World War 2. Nobody knew anything about parents, only that he was donated by them willingly. I'm assuming that they donated him because they didn't want their child to live through the war."

"How could you assume that?" I asked. "You wouldn't know, right?" Indy thought for a second, looking as if she were trying to decide whether to tell me something or not. "Horace and I did something very daring." Indy began, but the steel-tone returned to her voice. "We broke into the Institute to find records. The only reason I'm telling you this is so you know I'm not a liar, okay? And you can ask Horace if you don't believe me. Anyway; we broke into the Institute. We found out that Horace's parents did _not _receive any money for their donation of him." Then she shook her head, looking like she regret saying this.

"It makes sense, I guess." I said quietly. We were both silent for a moment. "How many Generation 1's do you think there are left?" I whispered. Indy stared at me with piercing eyes. "He's the last one, that we know of."

Suddenly I thought of something important. "Are you being chased, or under attack by Erasers and M-geeks and Flyboys and stuff?" I asked. Indy shook her head. "That's the strange thing-we haven't. Why, have you and your flock been?" "Near every day. We can't understand how they keep coming, or where they come from. We don't even know how their tracking us." I answered.

Indy looked up in the sky, and we both saw Horace flying back towards us. I still couldn't get over the fact of a 70 year old bird...adult.

Savannah's PoV

"Man..." I whispered. I glanced up at the teenagers who were standing over us, glaring down at us angrily. "Hahahahaha!" Ash laughed, dancing around, oblivious to the angry older boys. "We beat you by like, eighty points!" She cheered.

The boys looked at each other. "How did they do that?" One of them whispered. "How's that even possible?" Even Azure looked surprised. "Congrats, guys. I don't think anybody has beaten them before." Felix crossed his arms. "Well, we're special." He said with a touch of arrogance. "Now...I do believe you owe us something."

I had to admit, it was kind of funny watching Felix hold out his hand and each of the teenagers, who's expressions ranged from angry to annoyed to confused, each slap a twenty dollar bill in his hand. "Ha!" He crowed. "I guess we'll be leaving now." He turned haughtily on his heal, grabbed Andrew's hand, and stalked out. The rest of the flock looked at each other. "Uh, okay." I said, shrugging, and the rest of us followed him outside.

It was still bright and hot and I was blinded for a few seconds upon coming out of the laser tagging place. "Now that is one thing I never, ever want to do again." I proclaimed. Chase nodded. "Ugh. Just goes to show how stupid some people are." Ash shrugged. "It was kind of fun. But also kind of scary. I mean, why did those boys care so much about winning?"

I laughed a little. "Ash, hon, they're seventeen year old guys. All they care about are putting people younger than them to shame." Ash clapped her hands together. "We totally put THEM to shame though. It was so funny seeing their faces when they lost."

"I liked playing with Azure." Andrew spoke up. "She was fun. We played Duck Duck Goose." I looked at him. "You played with Azure?" Somehow, it didn't seem right. The bored, lazy employee who seemed kind of stuck up and trashy was playing a children's game with Andrew? "How do you play that with only two people?" Chase asked. Andrew scoffed, which was hysterical to see a four year old do. "We played it with the stuffed animals there, duh." He said.

I winked at Chase. "Yeah Chase, _duh_."

**There ya have it. Now, I have some questions. You don't need to answer any/all of them, but feedback would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. **

**1) How am I doing with getting the character's personalities? Are they developing wrong? **

**2) Do Felix and Ash sound older than they actually are? **

**3) What can I change or do better? **

**4)****Am I putting to little of Andrew in here?**

**5) Is there too much romance?**

**6) Would you rather have longer chapters but longer time between updates, or vise-versa?**

**Thanks! REVIEW! It makes my day :)**


	10. Author's Note

Hi, guys!

Okay, so normally I hate having these chapters as an author's note, but MAYBE it'll get your attention, hopefully.

First. I'm getting a lot of mixed feelings from you guys. AHH D: I'll start with Ash and Felix. Some of you guys said that they sound older than they are. However, keep in mind that the original flock (max, fang, ect) all sound older than they are, for two reasons. First because they don't know their EXACT age, so they may possibly be older than they are. Second, because didn't one of the books (SOF, I think) say that the flock had amazing vocabulary?

But this is no excuse for me, so please don't take it like that. So if you think they sound too old, I'll change that. Ideas on that, if you will? Thanks!

Second issue…romance. I'm trying to tone it down, and it WILL happen because something dramatic is going to happen in the next chapter…dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn. So, if it's too much, let me know, because being a girl without romance in her own life, I must subconsciously put it on my story. Hahahaha…

Third, updates! I try to write at LEAST one page a day, and I noticed my updates are about one to two times a week. I can update every two days, but I'd have to have about 1,000 word chapters. My last current three chapters were 3,000-4,000 words, so really, it's up to you.

Forth, Andrew. I'm going to try to put him in a bit more, but you guys were right about the whole "him being too young to be a main character" thing. So, thanks for you're help there, but for whoever submitted him, don't worry, he will still be in the story and I'll try to mention him at least a few more times per chapter.

And ONCE AGAIN, I am totally in love with your characters, and thanks so much for your kind and helpful reviews, I appreciate them a lot.


	11. Chapter 11

Felix's PoV

"You...what?" Chase said quietly, and I could barely hear it from where Ash and I were hiding, listening in to Chase and Savannah's conversation. I knew it was wrong, but Ash had somehow convinced me that it was okay. It still felt wrong inside, but I still wanted to know what they were talking about, because I knew Chase and Savannah would never say.

"I'm sorry, Chase." Savannah sounded really sad and soft, kind of like how she talked to me or Ash if she was going to tell us something really, really bad. "I don't understand why." Chase said urgently. I peered cautiously around the stack of barrels I was behind to watch. When Savannah first asked to talk to Chase, they'd gone into a long ally some distance away from where we were camped out for the evening. I was worried about Harlow-she hadn't come back yet-but Savannah said give it a little more time and then we'd start looking for her.

Chase and Savannah were sitting across from each other on old crates, hands together. They both looked sad, and Ash had a hand pressed against her mouth, eyes huge. "Chase, we need to just be friends. It's too hard being in a relationship right now, and we both know that us being together is too distracting." Savannah said. Chase shook his head. "Don't you remember what Ash was saying earlier? She likes us together!" He insisted. "Chase, when I'm with you, all I think about is you. And that's not right for people like us-fighters like us-to be distracted like that, away from our responsibilities."

Chase drew his hands out of Savannah's and raked his hands through his hair with a deep sigh. "I know," was all he said sadly, then stood up, kissed Savannah gently on her mouth, then walked away. Ash and I just stared after him, not moving, not saying anything. In fact, Savannah turned and saw us. "Felix? Ash?" She said quietly, but I could already tell something was different about her. "Savannah!" Ash cried out, jumping up and flinging herself in Savannah's arms. "Did...you guys just break up?" She wailed. Savannah rubbed her back, but her eyes were closed and her jaw trembled a little.

"Savannah?" I said, very very softly. "Please don't cry." I hugged her a little, then backed off, not quite knowing what else to say. "I'm fine. I'm not going to cry, Felix." She whispered. "Ash, I guess we did kind of break up." Then she looked up at me with some emotion I didn't recognize in her eyes. "You were right." She said straight to me. "Chase and I can't be in love."

Now I felt really bad about what I said to Chase on the beach today, about how he should only be friends with Savannah. This was all my fault! "Savannah..." I began, but trailed off, not really wanting to admit anything. Savannah stood up, recomposing herself. "Ash, Felix, I'll be okay. Why don't we drop this whole thing, forget about it?" She suggested with a fake smile. "It's getting late, and in case we have to face bad guys tomorrow, we need to be all rested up."

Ash took one of her hands, and I decided to take the other. Ash would probably say we'd be giving "emotional support". Whatever that was. I saw that in a magazine somewhere.

"Thanks." Savannah whispered, squeezing our hands a little as we walked back towards the woods. We didn't fly because we were in San Diego and of course we couldn't just go off flying. There was a small, small patch of "woods" not too far away, and we'd gone right into the middle of it to sleep.

After walking in complete silence for twenty minutes, we got to our campsite, where Chase and Andrew were. When Ash and I had gone to follow Savannah and Chase, we'd left Andrew by himself, but we he was sleeping and we assumed he wouldn't wake up. He was awake now, playing with some twigs near the campfire we'd risked to build. Even though it was only late September, and though we were in California, it still got cold at night. I sat down, as did the rest of the flock, but it was quiet.

There was something not right. It was too quiet, and neither Savannah nor Chase looked at each other. The silence was so awful I had to break it. "So...has Harlow left the flock?" I asked. All eyes shot to me. "No." Chase said firmly. "It wouldn't be like Harlow to leave the flock over one small matter."

"Then why isn't she home yet?" Ash piped in, but she didn't look at us. Her eyes were on Andrew. "I don't know." Savannah admitted. Again, there was that long, awkward silence. "I'm going to sleep." Chase finally said, and snapped open his wings, jumped into the air, and landed up high in a fork in a tree.

"Well, I am too. Come on, Andrew." Savannah said, standing up and scooping him up in her arms. Andrew must have picked up on the tension, because he didn't resist even though he didn't look very tired. Then she flew up with him to her own tree.

I didn't particularly like sleeping in trees, for some reason I always had the feeling I was going to fall out. So I settled on the ground on my side, opening my wing slightly and curling it around me. There was an unspoken agreement for Ash to take watch, so she sat down and propped up her back against a tree.

In about fifteen more minutes, it was completely dark and the only light was from the flickering fire. I watched it's shadows dance on the trees, unable to sleep. Everyone else but Ash and I were asleep, I could hear their faint breathing was steady. I tried to make myself fall asleep, but nothing worked. My stomach was wound tight and I felt worried.

"Felix?" The soft voice startled me out of my thoughts. I rolled over to face Ash, who was about five feet away. "Can you not sleep?" She asked. I shook my head. "How did you know?" I whispered. Ash shrugged. "You looked all tensed up." She was right. I sat up. "Can I sit by you?" I asked, suddenly feeling the need to be by someone. I was-scared? I don't know.

Ash smiled in relief, nodding. I crawled over and sat next to her, leaning against the tree too, so our heads were touching. "Something is wrong with the flock, and I'm scared." Ash admitted. I nodded. "Yeah. Harlow's gone, Savannah and Chase aren't talking to each other, they might be _mad_ at us."

"Felix, what if the flock splits up?" Ash said in a tiny voice.

I hadn't thought of that, but now it seemed like a big possibility. "We can't!" I said, a little panicky. "What would happen to us?" Ash's breathing sped up. "I don't know." Then she turned towards me. "Felix, let's make a pact. If this flock splits, you and me will stay together, team up." She said. I nodded, relief going through me. "Yeah. No matter what, like even if we are mad at each other." She held out her pinkie. "Pinkie promise?" She asked, and I hooked mine around hers. "Pinkie promise."

After a few moments we let go and leaned back against the tree. "Do you think it's good or bad that Savannah and Chase...broke up?" I asked. "I don't know." Ash said, voice sounding a little lighter. "Both, I guess?"

I got what she meant. "Good, because now things can go back to the way they were before. Bad, because things will never be the way they were before." I whispered.

Chase's PoV

When I awoke, I found myself draped across the tree awkwardly and my hand was numb. Groaning, I sat up and jumped to the ground, shaking the circulation back into my hand. Everyone was asleep-Ash was sprawled on the ground next to Felix, who was on his stomach, halfway across a log. I couldn't see how that was comfortable. Andrew and Savannah were up in another tree near mine.

Then I remembered last night. Savannah and I had... broken up, if that was the right word. The same feeling of hurt that I'd felt last night washed over me again. But as soon as that feeling came, I shoved it back down. Feelings like that were not important right now, especially if we got attacked today, which most likely would happen. It _always _happened. "Wake up, guys!" I shouted, "time to get up!"

Felix was the first to get up, sitting upright and yawning. "Where are we going today?" He asked sleepily. Ash sat up also, stretching out her wings. "Yeah. Can we go shopping?" Of course that was her first statement..."I don't know." I replied. I looked up at Savannah, who was waking up Andrew. In a moment they flew out of the tree, shaking out their wings.

Savannah and I made the mistake of meeting each other's eyes, and I saw hurt laced in hers. She ripped her gaze away. "You know what, Ash, normally I'd disagree with you right away. But when I think about it, we've been wearing the same clothes for, like, months. We all need haircuts, just look at Felix!" She gestured towards Felix's chestnut colored hair which was now longer then it should be. "And I have major split ends!" Ash complained.

Savannah shrugged. "So why don't we go shopping and get our hair cut and stuff? It can be our one day of luxury...I think we deserve it." She said. "_After_ we look for Harlow."

Within moments, our campfire was out and we were in the air, hoping not many people were out at five o'clock in the moring, except people going to work or whatever. But we got out of San Diego only a few minutes after that, so I think we weren't spotted. "Where could she be?" Felix called out. I risked a glance at Savannah, and her expression told me she had no idea. Of course, she didn't tell Felix that. "Probably around here somewhere!" She shouted back optimistically. To me, she murmured, "could be halfway across the country by now."

Once we got to a place where it was only rolling hills and fields and mountains, we flew low and kept our eyes open for Harlow. "How about we split up?" I suggested. "Ash and I, and you, Felix, and Andrew."  
>"Fine." Savannah said coolly, and I motioned for Ash to break away from the flock with me. "Come on, Ash, we'll go look over yonder." I joked. Ash rolled her eyes in an aggravated, and I was confused. Ash was usually the only one who my humor was not lost on.<p>

"Some bird-kid woke up on the wrong side of the nest!" I tried again, but Ash didn't even crack a smile, instead tilted her wing a little to move away from me a little. "Whoa, what's wrong, Ash?" I asked. Ash gave me a fake smile that she'd probably learned from Savannah. "Nothing!" She said convincingly. Also learned from Savannah. "Yeah, right." I said. But I dropped it, knowing she probably wouldn't tell me what was wrong. That was just a girl thing.

_4 Hours Later_

"Chase, we've been looking forever. Please, can we be done?" Ash asked wearily a few hours later. I had to admit, I was getting a little tired also. We'd searched all over, in a radius from Northern California to middle of Washington State. Now we were flying back to our designated meeting spot with the rest of the flock over Oregon. It didn't take long to find them, and by the absence of Harlow, I could tell they hadn't found her. "No luck?" Felix asked, tone the same as Ash's. We shook our heads, and Andrew looked close to tears. "Where's Harlow?" He whimpered.

"Andrew, I'm sorry." I told the little four year old who looked close to tears. "What if she's hurt and lost somewhere?" Ash cried suddenly. Savannah glared at her. "She's not." She said firmly. "Harlow's probably fine, just getting some time to herself."

"She's probably sick of of us." I couldn't help but joking, just because I'm like that. "No kidding." Savannah muttered, which I assumed was directed at me. "Well, what should we do now?" Felix asked in a small voice. "How about we go to another major city, but not in California? Maybe she'd be there?" I asked. Savannah the Leader spoke up. "We're going to Chicago, guys."

Mixed responses. Ash cheered, Andrew looked excited at the idea of another zoo, Felix looked dismayed (due to the fact of Savannah's shopping announcement), and my eyebrows rose. "Chicago?" I repeated. Savannah nodded. "Major city, just like you said. Besides, if you ran away from your flock and decided to go back to them, where would you look?"

"Uhm, the place I left 'em?" I snickered, and Savannah groaned. "A major city, stupid. That's why we're going to Chicago." "But how would she guess Chicago?" Ash asked. Savannah smiled. "Remember before how you insisted we go to California? And then right after that Felix said we should go to a different place that's less polluted, like Chicago? Harlow will know to go there, then."

"What a LONG SHOT!" I said, even as we started heading east. "She'll never remember that!" Savannah glared at me. She did that a lot, now. "Chase, Harlow's smarter than the five of us put  
>together. I'm sure she will."<p>

**So, there you go. Kind of a short chapter, but now I'M ON MY HOME TURF! xD I'm from Chicago, so I know all about it, wayyy more than I know about San Diego. Get ready for some flock REBELNESS! :D REVIEW! **

**Also, wasn't the whole Felix/Ash thing cute? See...they're developing more as friends :) **


	12. Chapter 12

Ash's PoV

"HOLY FREAKING GOODNESS!" Savannah shrieked, yanking a sharpie marker out of my hand. "What the heck do you think your DOING?" I raised my hands in defence. "Gosh, Savannah, I just wanted to write my name on it!" I protested. Savannah scowled and tossed the marker in the fountain. "Ash, you may _not _deface-uh-" She glanced at the sign, "Buckingham Fountain." She read.

"Oh, come on. Nobody would even see it." We began to walk out of Grant Park, leaving the huge beautiful fountain behind. "Why in the world would you want to do that in the first place?" Chase asked. "You're not...the "rebel" type, hun." I fell back behind the rest of the flock and pulled Felix's arm. "You are such a jerk!" I hissed. "It's not fair to double dare me to do something illegal!"

Felix snickered and raced ahead to the rest of the flock. "Don't care!" He called back to me, walking in time with Chase. I hurried forward too, between Savannah and Andrew, taking Andrew's hand. "What was that about?" Savannah asked. My face heated up-no way would I be telling her that Felix and I have been double-daring each other to do things all day. "Uh...nothing." I said, shrugging it off. "Where are we going?"

The flock was currently touring Chicago, at the same time looking for somewhere to get clothes and stuff. "Can we go to the zoo?" Andrew asked, swinging my hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Savannah making a face. "You mean Lincoln Park Zoo? Um...maybe. If we have time. But Andrew we just went to the San Diego Zoo yesterday." She told him. Andrew stuck out his lower lip. "I like aminals." He said stubbornly. "You mean _animals?_" I asked. Andrew moved his little shoulders up and down. "Please?" He whined.

"Chase?" Savannah called ahead to him, but it didn't sound like how she normally talked to him. It sounds weird, but it's true. Usually Savannah talked to Chase in a voice that _sounded_ like she liked him. Now her tone sounded kind of strained, awkward, and annoyed. Like how she talked to Felix if he left his dirty socks on the ground or something. Anyway, Chase turned around. "Yeah?" He asked.

Chase still talked in the way that sounded sad. "Andrew wants to go to the zoo. What say you?" Savannah asked. Chase slowed till he was walking with us. "How about tomorrow, Andrew, okay?" He said gently. Andrew's jaw quivered. "Zoo now." He protested. Savannah laid a hand on his shoulder. "Chase said tomorrow." She said firmly.

Suddenly something caught my eye. "Savannah!" I hissed, tugging on her arm, "look!" I pointed at the biggest building I'd ever seen. "What's that?" Savannah glanced over to where I was pointing, looking glad for the distraction. "Oh, that's the Willis Tower, formally known as the Sears. Tallest building in the U.S, I think." She rattled off.

By now, with our quick walking, we were now in downtown Chicago. "Can we go shopping now?" I asked. Savannah nodded. "First store we can find, how about that."

_20 Minutes Later_

We ended up going to this super cool store with totally amazing things. "Oh...my...gosh." I breathed. "It totally has ALL the newest fashions!" Chase groaned. "Yeah..great if you're a girl. I think you must hate me-dragging me in a store like this." Savannah clapped her hands together. "Okay, guys, listen up. Ash will help Chase, then Chase will help Felix. I'll help Andrew, and Ash will help me too." She announced.

Felix looked confused. "Wait...why is Ash helping the two oldest and doesn't need help herself?" He asked. Chase grinned. "Ash has probably the best fashion sense out of all of us, that's why. She'll make sure we fit in, look a little normal." Felix nodded. "Oh. Well, yeah, that makes sense." Savannah took Andrew's hand. "Alright, let's do this!"

She headed off in one direction, Andrew in tow, and I dragged the boys with me. "Chase! Chase! OhmygoshyouSOneedtogetthis!" I squealed, tossing him a pair of jeans that was totally in right now. He looked at them doubtfully. "Ash, how would I be able to fight in these? And-UGH, they're, like, _skinny_."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine, we'll try something else." Of course, it only took a few minutes of searching before I'd piled at least seven things on him and pushed him towards the dressing rooms. "Show me everything!" I demanded, leaning against the door. "And make sure to match those cargo pants with that black top and the jeans with the white-AHH!" I yelled, as Chase had slammed his fist against the door and making me fall over. "Don't worry, I got it." He called to me.

In a moment he opened the door. "Here." He held out his arms and modeled the next pair of jeans. I tilted my head. "Uhm...almost perfect. Instead of the white-ugh, I'm so ashamed I ever picked that out-put on the black shirt. Then you'll be perfect." Chase nodded. "Go find Savannah and Andrew, help them. I'll take care of Felix."

I hurried off to find Savannah, who had already outfitted Andrew in mesh shorts, a tee shirt and a sweatshirt. "Aww, Andrew, you look so cute!" I said. I glanced closer at Andrew and saw damp tear streaks on his face, and judging by Savannah's look, it hadn't been easy getting him into clothes. It was almost funny, 'cuz Andrew didn't cry when we were getting attacked by Erasers, but he cried when getting changed into different clothes. "Okay, Ash." Savannah said wearily. "Let's make this quick."

It took no longer than ten minutes to completely change Savannah into skinny jeans, and a long sleeve tight black shirt. "Gosh, you look so cute. You could probably be a model!" I told her, beaming. Savannah smiled a little at me. "Thanks, Ash."

Of course I didn't tell her I'd made her matching with Chase. That was for my own personal enjoyment-they were so cute together, and they probably looked even cuter matching. "Now for me!" I muttered to myself, dashing away to the girl's section of the huge store. Savannah and Andrew followed, and we met up with Chase, who'd helped Felix pick out a green shirt and jeans, with a dark hoodie.

"Great! Are we done?" Chase asked hopefully. I shook my head. "Let me find something, first." I held up a pair of pink cargo shorts but Savannah immediately shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. Those are way too short-just imagine what'd happen to them in battle. And they're _pink, _honey, anyone would be able to spot you from a mile away." She reminded me. I rolled my eyes and saw a maroon, super cute top. "Look! Gosh I so need to get this, please?" I asked Savannah, making my eyes go wide and pleading. Savannah shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

To go with the maroon, I grabbed tan pants, and was about to go to try them on when I saw a booth of jewelry. "Oh, no..." Chase moaned as he saw me making a leap for it. A huge stack of bracelets caught my eye, and I slid them on. "I am SO getting these." I demanded to them.

Ten more minutes later we'd paid for all our stuff and were now back in the streets of Chicago, feeling fresh and looking fabulous in our new clothes. "One down, two to go, guys." Savannah informed us, while her gaze swept the streets. "What now?" Felix groaned. "I'm hungry."

Then, suddenly, to all of the flock's total surprise, _purple_ shot out from Felix's hands, forming a disk-like shape. "What the heck?" Felix muttered, and we all stared, totally confused. "What is that?" Chase asked. Felix looked the most nervous. "I don't know. It just happened." Then the purple disk disappeared. "Did _you_ do that?" Savannah asked. Felix shook his head. "Try to somehow do it." Savannah urged.

Felix scrunched up his face in concentration, and the purple disks reappeared. Savannah bit her lip, then reached out and touched it. Her hand jerked back. "It-like, shocked me, or something." She said. Andrew laughed. "Forth 'ield." He announced. Chase frowned at him. "What'd you say?" He asked carefully. "Forth 'ield." Andrew said again, cheerily. Chase glanced at Savannah. "Did he just say "force field"?" Savannah said.

My mouth dropped. "Gosh, Felix, you're so lucky! You can make _force fields_! Wait...what are force fields anyway?" I asked. Savannah pursed her lips. "Well, a force field can usually block most anything. So...I guess we'll find out." She looked around, then pulled us off the sidewalk into an ally. I picked up a pipe-type thing and handed it to Chase. "Try it!"

Felix made his force field thing again,and Chase whacked it with the pipe thing. The force field didn't break or even crack. "Dang!" I said. "That is wicked cool!" Chase grinned at Felix. "Looks like someone has a new power."

Savannah nodded in agreement. "It'll come in a lot of handy."

Harlow's PoV

My anger at the flock had mostly boiled off, and now I was missing them. In fact, I told that to Horace when Indy wasn't around. "That's great, child!" He said enthusiastically. "That's a sign that you really do want to go back to them." I raked a hand through my hair. "Maybe it is. I wonder how Andrew's doing."

Indy was back then, appearing out of what seemed like nowhere the way she always did. "What's up, guys?" Indy had warmed up to me a little, which was fine. She and I mostly got along if we didn't talk to each other much. "The bird-child is missing her flock again!" Horace announced. He certainly was very honest. Indy gave a little smirk. "So does that mean you're leaving?" She asked.

I shrugged. "You know what, I don't know. But I'd like to talk to them." I said a little wistfully. I was curious about Chase and Savannah's relationship, and how Felix and Ash were holding up. Being with this small flock, it was very quiet. Indy didn't talk much, and Horace just mostly walked around with a smile. There was no Ash with her constant mouth, no Chase's humor, no Savannah pretending to be annoyed at Chase, and no real joy in this flock in general.

Sure there was Horace who was smiling and talking and stuff, but it seemed to lessen every day. Finally, I stood up from where I'd been braiding grass and unfurled my wings. "I'm going back to my flock." I decided. "Do...you want to come with me?"

Indy sharply looked up and hissed "no" at the same Horace smiled and said "we'd love to!" I blinked, confused. Horace looked down at Indy, who glared at him. "Harlow, dear, will you excuse us for a moment?" He asked gently. Slowly I nodded and backed away, jumping into the air. "I'll be back soon." I whispered.

I smiled a little as I soared through the air, glad for the chance to fly. It was wonderful, the wind whipping back my hair, the sun on my face. Here, in the meadows, with Horace and Indy, was the longest time I'd ever been away from my flock; been able to think in peace, and been able to get different perspectives than I ever had being around the flock. In a way, despite my love for them, I was glad to be rid of the flock for the time I had. But now it was time to return. I wasn't exactly sure why I'd asked Horace and Indy to accompany me, maybe it was because I was nervous about Chase and Savannah's reactions and needed backup. Or something.

I knew I wanted Horace and Indy to meet my flock because my flock would probably be eager to meet more avian-human hybrids. It was sort-of comforting to know that there were other people in the world like us, but bad at the same time. I mean, how many of us really were there? For all we know, us hybrids could be swarming the nation but none of us knew it. A noise down below interrupted my thoughts. It was Horace, motioning me to come down.

I circled then landed, skidding to a halt. "We've made our decision." Indy said grimly. I waited. Then, a hint of a smile brushed over her face. "Where are we headed?"

Chase's PoV

I was still upset at Savannah. Boy, was I upset and frustrated, but I couldn't help my mouth dropping open at the sight of her. We'd all gotten our hair cut, thanks to Savannah's declaration of our hair being to long, and we all looked much better. Uhm, might I add, especially Savannah...Her red-gold hair had been hacked off to a little past her chin, and now it was feathery and wispy. She looked-girly? Was that the right word?

We hadn't done anything to Andrew, considering his hair was already really short. Felix's hair and been cut shorter, and brushed back. Ash's shoulder-length hair was trimmed a little, and styled so it framed her face. She'd loved it, saying it totally made her look two years older.

For me, my stylist had been a little weird. "Dahling, you're hair! It covers your eyes!" She said, in a heavy French accent. I nodded. "Oh, zis is not good. Vee need to make your gorgeousssss eyes show!" She exclaimed. "What ever you say, ma'am." I said back cheerfully.

Within two minutes, my hair was cut across my forehead at an angle so it didn't fall into my eyes. Ash rushed over. "Oh my gosh CHASE you LOOK LIKE JUSTIN BIEBER!" She screamed, clapping her hands together excitedly. I looked in the mirror and groaned. "Don't rub it in." But the French stylist was watching, so I turned on the charm, grinning at her. "I love it. You are fabulous." The lady placed a hand to her heart. "Such a fine young man." She beamed.

Once we got out of that place, the only thing left to do was get shoes. Ours were beaten up and grimy from months of battles and being on the run, and I thought we deserved some. So as not to bore you with all the details, let me just say we all got new were pretty cool.

Twenty minutes later we were at Navy Pier, leaning over the rail, gazing at Lake Michigan. "It's so pretty, isn't it?" Ash said. Felix nodded. "The sun makes the lake look like it's glittering." He agreed. I squinted in the sunset, thinking I'd seen a few dark shadows among the red and orange fading sun. I looked over at Savannah-she'd seen it too. "Sorry guys, but we have to split." I muttered to the younger kids.

They looked disappointed, but they'd seen the shadows too. "Are those bad guys?" Felix asked. Savannah didn't reply, her eyes were scanning the horizon, calculating. "See the slightly awkward way they fly?" She whispered, to no one in general. "Erasers. About seven of 'em." I slowly glanced around, and since Navy Pier wasn't to crowded today, nobody would see if we got out of here quick with our wings. "One," Savannah said, and the rest of us tensed. "Two," Ash crouched, Felix went on his tiptoes, Andrew looked ready to jump, and Savannah and I balanced on the edge of the railing. "Three!" I yelled, and almost in unison, we all dove up into the air, unfolding our wings and flying up, up, up.

Once we were at about three thousand feet, we angled our wings to turn and flew away from the Erasers, gradually picking up speed. "Where are we going?" Ash called. "If we do fight the Erasers," I shouted back, "we need to lead them away to somewhere where we have a fighting advantage!"

Savannah cast a glance over her shoulder. "They're gaining on us!" She warned. How were they going so fast? Because of Andrew, we couldn't have gone as fast as we'd like, but it was almost enough to get away from the Erasers. "They keep finding us!" Felix wailed.

I scanned below, looking for someplace to land and possibly fight. No where! We were still on the outskirts of Chicago, and the Erasers were getting closer by a second. Finally, after about three minutes, the Erasers were practically on top of us but I saw a place to land. "There!" I shouting, folding in my wings and starting to drop. The rest of the flock followed, and the clumsy Erasers didn't know what to do for a second. They swooped down after us, but we were going much faster. Finally, about forty feet from the ground, I snapped out my wings and braked.

I landed with a _thud_ to the ground, then whirled around, mentally prepping myself for a fight. The rest of the flock landed, and I pulled Andrew upright and behind me. "We might have to fight them." I explained to him. Andrew nodded. "Felix showed me how to house kick someone." I was pretty sure he meant roundhouse, but the Erasers were about to land and there wasn't time to correct him.

To our surprise, the second the Erasers landed they grouped in a perfect line, staring at us coldly. "We do not want to fight." One of them announced in a silky voice. Savannah and I automatically stepped forward, pushing the rest of the flock behind us. "Oh yeah?" Savannah snarled. "What do you want then?" The Eraser was unfazed. "We will capture you for research."

I rolled my eyes. "Gosh, that's new." I said, "so were you simply trying to kill us all the _other _times?" Again, the Eraser seemed to have ignored me. "Come with us peacefully so we do not have to hurt you." I laughed. "Yeah right!"

Then I leaped in the air and dove at the Eraser, slamming my foot into his knee. He howled in pain and tried to grab at me, but being the amazing graceful hybrid I am, avoided his morphing paws and punched it. After that, the pack of Erasers began attacking us and I could barely see anything except the Eraser in front of me.

I snapped, kicked, and punched wildly, applying every bit of training I'd ever learned. My hand connected with his shoulder blade and the Eraser fell to it's knees. I kicked his chest and he flew backwards, and to finish it off, drove my foot into his ribs. I could hear the sickening _snap_ of some of them breaking. Suddenly, a piercing scream, louder than any scream I'd heard before, sliced through the air. Everyone halted and looked towards where the sound was coming from. It was Ash, and an Eraser was holding her upside down by her wings. "Help!" She squealed, and before any of us could react, Erasers had grabbed all of us. "We only need one." The Eraser said. "Take the screaming child."

"No!" Felix yelled, trying to squirm away from the Eraser's grip. "Let us _go!_" We all started protesting, trying to get away from our captors, but it was no use. They were kidnapping Ash, and we had to watch, unable to do anything. "Stop!" Savannah said, in a loud, commanding voice. "Take me instead of Ash. I'll come willingly. You want me more than her, I swear. I'm much more useful."

The Eraser who was stuffing Ash into a huge bag stopped, and looked at the commanding Eraser, who was holding me. "Yes, take the older one." The Eraser threw Ash to the ground, and she whimpered. "Savannah, what are you doing?" I whispered. She glanced at me with those dark green eyes that were the exact color of mine. "Chase, Chase." She said in a falsely soothing voice. "I told you three days ago, Savannah _is _in Georgia. But if I'm wrong, find me and tell me."

It was the most obscure thing she's ever said. The Erasers were confused, but they didn't waste any time throwing Savannah inside the bag. One threw her over his shoulder and jumped into the air, flying away. "Savannah!" Ash screamed, tears streaming down her face. Andrew tried jumping into the air to follow them, but I held him back, focusing on what she said. Felix looked stunned. Then he yelled out, "why aren't we following them? Why aren't we trying to get her back?" He slammed a tree with his fist.

I smiled, because what Savannah said now made sense. She was giving me a message. "Guys, Savannah's going to be okay." I reassured them. Ash looked at me with wide eyes. "Chase!" Her voice was high. "Have you gone _crazy_? She just got _kidnapped_!" I put a hand on either of their shoulders. "She's going to escape. She's going to meet us in Savannah, Georgia in three days."

Felix blinked. "Is that what she meant by what she said?" I nodded. "And if she isn't there in three days, we have to go and find her." Ash looked up at me, looking terrified. "Let's go, then." She whispered.

**Ohhhhkay! So first, sorry for not updating in forever! I was busy, then grounded, then blah blah blah...Anyway! So yes, I know that what happened is sort-of copying what happened in the first Maximum Ride, but common, James Patterson stole ALL of the ideas! xD So, if what happened here is kinda unrealistic, sorry about that. But yeah! I've got great ideas! REVIEW! :) **


	13. Chapter 13

Felix's PoV

I still wasn't exactly sure if going to Georgia was what Savannah meant, but Chase seemed so sure that I believed him. "If we do go to Georgia, how long will it take to fly there?" I asked. Chase thought for a second. "If we go ninety miles per hour, we'll get there in approximately eight hours. Then again..." He glanced down at Andrew and back up to me, "maybe longer."

I nodded, suddenly feeling scared. "Chase, what if Savannah can't get there?" I asked, quietly enough so Andrew wouldn't hear. Distress crossed his face briefly. "Then we'll have to find her." He said softly. Then Ash spoke up. "Shouldn't we be tracking her _now_?"  
>"They're too far away by now," I said, "and...I don't think she wanted us to follow her, right?" I looked at Chase for conformation. To both me and Ash's surprise, Chase fell right to his knees and let his head sink into his hands. "I can't believe this is happening." He said, voice muffled.<p>

Then he looked up, shaking his head, and rocked back to his heals. "I'm sorry this happened. But I can promise that in three days, we'll be together again. Promise." I think he was saying this for Andrew's sake. Ash put her hand on Chase's shoulder. "You don't have to pretend to be brave. We're all scared." She told him. Chase's eyebrows rose as he looked at her. "Thanks, Ash, but I'll be fine. It's just-" He stood up again, shaking out his wings. "I'm just worried about you guys. Anybody hurt?"

It wasn't until he said that, when I realize my upper arm was throbbing, but I tried to ignore it. "I'm okay." I said. Ash nodded. "My wings are sore from where the Eraser pulled at them, but that's all." Then Andrew thrust out his hand. "I got hurt." He almost proudly announced, showing Chase the tiny scratch on his thumb. Chase cracked a smile. "You okay, buddy?" Andrew grinned, and it made me feel a little bit better. "I feel good. When is Savannah coming back?" He asked, still smiling.

Chase thought for half a second. "Soon. We're going to meet up with her far away in a little while." He explained. Andrew looked puzzled. "Is Harlow coming too?" My eyes widened. I couldn't believe we didn't remember that! "Aren't we supposed to wait here in Chicago for Harlow?" I exclaimed. Chase looked really frustrated now. "This is just _great._" He said in disgust. "My leading ladies are gone. Well, I have a plan. We'll wait here for one more day, then fly all day tomorrow to get to Georgia." He announced. It was a good plan. "So where are we going now?" I asked.

Chase put his hands on his hips. "I'm sure none of us are in the mood for sightseeing now, though I doubt the Erasers will be back." He said. I mentally agreed with him. My mood had totally been spoiled. First Harlow was gone, and now Savannah was kidnapped. I missed her already.

"I know," Ash spoke up, sounding glum. "Why don't we go to the Willis tower and go into one of those cute sky box things? We'd be able to see Harlow from forever away." She suggested. Chase nodded. "Good thinking, Ash." He stood, motioning us to take off.

Less then ten minutes later, we were in a sky box thing on the Willis tower, looking down hundreds of feet. It was actually kind of funny, because there were two teenage girls with us, about Chase's age, who were screaming and scared to come on. It was also annoying because they were exaggerating so much. "They're just trying to impress Chase." Ash whispered to me, giggling. I looked closer and realized that the girls were glancing at Chase every few seconds to see if he'd noticed them.

He hadn't. Chase was pressed against the side of the glass, peering out and looking sad, and I knew he was thinking of Savannah. Harlow, maybe, because of course he loved her, but we all knew he still had special feelings for Savannah, even though they'd broken up. I went to stand by Chase, leaning gently against the glass next to him. "You guys shouldn't have broken up." I whispered. Chase glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "What do you mean?" He asked. I fingered my windbreaker, thinking of how to get out what was all mixed up in my mind.

"None of us like seeing you so sad." I admitted. It felt a little weird doing this, because just two days ago Chase was talking to _me_ like this, giving _me_ advice, and now I felt like I was years older. "It'll wear off." Chase said, shrugging it off. I shook my head. "See, that's the thing. It won't wear off. You can't just make yourself stop loving someone." Chase glared at me, but it wasn't exactly angry. "So are you saying that the only thing that I can do either be in a relationship with her or leave this flock?" His voice was hard and sarcastic.

I shook my head, feeling shot down, but again gathered up my courage. "No." I made my tone icy. "I'm saying you can _be with her_ without destroying this flock. It's possible, Chase."

Chase didn't reply for a long moment, thinking. Then he narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh yeah? How is it possible?" Ash came to stand next to me, as if she were on my side. "I agree with Felix." Her voice was high. I was encouraged, dismayed, and horrified that we were auguring about this _here_. "We know that you think about her a lot, and sometimes you guys kiss too much, but other than that, both of you still do a great job of being leaders. So if you act like every thing's normal, yet still be in love, it can work!" Ash said, and I was proud of her to be so smart.

Chase didn't reply, just turned away. "Yeah, maybe." I heard him slightly murmur. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened. "H-Harlow!" He sputtered, pointing madly out the window. The girls- who were peering out of the window next to us-eyes widened. "Is that a _bird?" _One of them stammered.

I glanced over quickly at them. "Yeah. It's a hawk." I muttered, hoping she'd believe me, and already started hurrying out of the sky box, grabbing Andrew's hand and leading him towards the large elevator. The rest of the flock leaped after me, and we all crammed ourselves in the claustrophobic elevator. Ash was bouncing on her toes with excitement, Andrew was grinning ear-to-ear, and Chase looked a little less stressed. Suddenly, Ash's face went pale. "Wait a second guys." She whispered. "There were _three _people flying toward us."

Harlow's PoV

My heart was light and happy as I flew at top speed to Chicago, remembering Felix's wanting to go there. I was _positive _they were there-I didn't know why, but I had that weird instinct that I've learned to trust. Horace was keeping up extremely well, but Indy looked very shaky and her face had absolutely no color in it. I tilted my wing, gliding over to Horace. "Horace, why isn't Indy a good flier?" I asked, once I was certain I was at least sixty feet away from her and couldn't be overheard.

Horace smiled a bit. "The poor bird-child fears heights." He explained. "She flies very rarely." I grimaced at the irony. "Oh. I see." I said, glancing back at Indy again and this time noticing her shaky flying. Then I looked forward again, squinting at the huge tower in front of us that was coming into focus. "They're in there." I motioned ahead. "I can feel it." Horace nodded, then angled down outside of the city. When we'd skidded to a halt, Indy threw herself to the ground. "I'm never going in the air again." She said shakily, pressing her face into the grass. Then she sat quickly upright, expression suddenly blank and unreadable again.

I grabbed her hand to help her up, and noticed she was shaking. Instantly I felt bad for her. "I'm okay. Where to now?" Indy said gruffly, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. I looked up high into the sky, and spotting the tower, motioned toward it. "There." I said quietly. "They're there."

Savannah's PoV

I was shaking, and I couldn't stop. I was cold, and I couldn't get warm. I was scared beyond belief, and I needed Chase.

I had no idea where I was, because I was tied into some sort of bag, and I was feeling lightheaded from lack of oxygen. Bouncing around in the sack over the Eraser's shoulder, I grabbed my head with both my hands and tried to stop the headache that was increasing by the second. Finally, with a _thud_, the Eraser roughly dropped the bag on a cold, hard ground, taking my breath away for a moment when I landed on my back. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins, preparing me to jump out of this bag the moment they opened it and then run for my life.

"We captured the oldest female." One of the other Erasers, the leader of their pack, announced. "Good." Another voice cackled, and my blood ran like ice. It was the creepiest, haunting voice I'd ever head. "Now I must speak to her." He commanded sharply. I held my breath as the bag was slashed open with a long, cruelly twisted knife. An Eraser grabbed my arm, yanking me upright, and threw me into a metal chair, where locks immediately curled around my ankles and wrists.

I looked up and met eyes with the man who'd spoken. He was tall-freakishly tall-he towered over me, glaring down with pure black eyes. I resisted the urge to shiver, and instead glared right back at him, shoving down all my fear. Slowly, an evil smile crossed his old-looking face, turning to the Erasers. "Very excellent. Now leave us." He commanded. I strained against my locks, which didn't do any bit of good, but my eyes never left the man's.

He was wearing a black jumpsuit-style top with a thick black vest, baggy cargo pants, and knee high black boots. Given his buzz-cut hair and hard, scared face, it boosted up his "evil" appearance. "My name is Vladimir." (A/N- pronounced: vuh-lad-a-mirror) He said, voice even more cold and creepy then before, and I noticed he had the slightest of Russian accents. "And you," he went on, "are not za oldest. Za runaway girl, Harlow, is." He smirked at his knowledge, and I dreaded that he knew this. "However," he continued, "vat a prize, vat a prize to have za leader captured."

Quickly, my eyes scanned the room. It was frigid and dark, with small rays of sunlight streaming through the six grimy windows on either side of the room. Though large, the room was semi-empty and appeared to be the remains of a warehouse or factory. "I volunteered for someone else." I said through clenched teeth, "you did not capture me." Vladimir waved his hand as if it didn't matter. "Now, you vil give me all za information I need." He said, very calmly, almost pleasantly.

"No." I scoffed, hoping he didn't have a gun. "I will tell you nothing." Promptly, he stepped forward and slapped his hand across my face, making my head snap back. I repressed a whimper, cheek burning, trying to ignore the pain. "You ignorant fool." He spat, leveling his face to mine. "You do not know za power I am capable of. You do not know za power I have to kill you."

I couldn't help my eyes growing wide with fear. He could be bluffing, but I doubted that, he looked dead serious and smug about it. "What do you what with me?" I wanted my voice to be strong, fearless, but it was wavering. Vladimir took a few steps back and sank into a black leather chair, folding his hands on the wooden desk in front of him. "How vel do you know your American history? Vel enough to know vat occurred during World War 2?" He asked.

I blinked, trying to remember back to any scrap of history I learned, but it was hard in this situation. "Uhm, Germany tried to rule the world?" I guessed. It sounded right. Vladimir gave a sound of disgust, slamming his fists against the table. "Stupid halfwit." He muttered, then sighed. "Hitler created a super-race, filled with the most brilliant, efficient, and incredible people in the world! I intend to re-create this era, only this time-" he paused to rise out of his chair, looking powerful and more evil than ever. "I WILL SUCCEED!"

He screamed the last part and I winced, dread already filling me.

Ash's PoV

"Harlow!" I screeched, throwing myself into her wiry arms. I hugged her tightly to me, breathing in her Harlow-smell, and dancing around with joy as she spun me around. "Hey, Ash." She said calmly, but her face was bursting with smiles. I finally let her go so the others, especially Andrew, hug her. Felix looked up at her with worry. "Harlow, why'd you leave? We were so scared! We missed you so much!" Harlow rubbed his back. "You missed me?" She asked. Felix nodded, and I saw the old, nice-looking man behind her smile.

"Of course!" I said, then asked, "who are they?" I pointed to the old man and the girl, who looked around Savannah and Chase's age. Harlow grinned and motioned for them to come forward. "Guys, this is Horace and this is Indy." I tilted my head. Horace had an open face that was warm and friendly, and Indy looked closed off and mad. "Hi!" I said brightly, mostly to the older man. "I'm Ash! I'm eight and probably three-quarters."

Chase laughed, hugging Harlow. "Glad your back!" He said happily, and I was glad he seemed way less worried than he did before. Then he stepped towards Indy, holding out his hand with a grin. "Chase, nice to meet you." Indy hesitated for a moment, looking at Chase almost suspiciously, but then carefully reached out and shook his hand.

I watched as Andrew threw his arms around Harlow's knees and hugging her tightly. "Harlow! You're back! I missed you lots and lots." Harlow's eyes sparkled with happiness as she gathered him into her arms. "I missed you too, kiddo." She whispered. Then she looked up. "Where's Savannah?" She asked. The second she said that, everybody from our flock froze. I risked a glance at Chase, who took a deep breath. He looked almost ashamed. "She...was captured." Chase started. "Erasers came and were about to kidnap Ash, but Savannah took her place."

Harlow was stunned. "What?" She squeaked. "Well why aren't we doing anything?" Felix shuffled in place. "Savannah gave us clues to meet us in Georgia." He explained, brushing hair from his eyes. "In three days."

Horace, the old man, stepped forward, unfurling his beautiful white wings. "If you wouldn't mind, we'd like to offer our service to help." He said.

**What do ya think? Review, please! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Chase's PoV**

"Wait...we want to help?" That girl-Indy-said incredulously to the older guy. Horace kept his genuinely beaming smile on his face, and without turning, said "hush, child," back to Indy. Indy scowled.

"Uhm, well," I began, not knowing exactly how to put this, "I really don't know-how good of an idea that is." I said, then quickly checked over the facial expressions of the rest of my flock. Sure, I was the leader, but I relied on a lot of input from my flock now that Savannah was gone. Harlow looked disappointed, Andrew was uninterested, Felix was confused, and Ash still looked happy to have Harlow back. "Why's that?" Harlow asked softly.

We couldn't talk about this now, not in front of them. I glanced up at the sky, it was around evening, nearing dark. "Why don't we find somewhere to crash tonight?" I suggested, already unfolding my wings. I was also still rattled with the shock of the older guy having wings, so I guess that was added onto my list of Things to Discuss with Harlow later on. "Okay." She agreed uncertainly, and I noticed Indy's scowl became deeper. I wondered what her problem was...

We took a running leap into the sky, and started flying back towards the city. Andrew and Ash stuck close to Harlow, and I heard Ash talking a million miles and hour, asking Harlow questions about where she was. Felix glided over to Horace and promptly asked the question we'd been dying to know... "How are you still alive? I thought we were supposed to expire!" I wanted to hear Horace's answer, but they had flown to far away for me to hear. So, that left Indy and I.

I'd always seen it as a personal challenge to get the sullen to talk, so, putting on my warmest smile, headed over to the lagging Indy. "Hey." I said cheerfully, but she just glared at me. Her flying wasn't so great, so I assumed that it was hard for her to concentrate on flying and talking at the same time. I also assumed she wasn't that great in flying battle. "Is your name short for something?" I tried again.

Indy sucked in a deep breath. "Why are you talking to me?" She asked sharply. I smiled, still unfazed. "Because...you're the only person left to talk to, I want to talk to you, and I wouldn't give up an opportunity to talk to such a beautiful hybrid." I said in a charming voice. Indy actually blushed. "Uh-really?" She said, with a tad less venom in her voice. I grinned widely. "Of course! Now, you never answer my question."

Indy swept her long hair out of her face. "My name is short for Indianna. Like the state, only not." She explained. "Where'd you come from? What generation are you?" I inquired, interrested. Still looking a little wary, she answered. "Whichever generation was created fourteen years ago. I'm from the School in Pennsylvania, was rescued by my-er-Horace." She explained. "Tell me more!" I said, self-encouraged by her talking to me. I guess she just took a while to warm up to people.

I swear she _almost_ smiled.

"Horace and I have been living in California for the longest time, and when we travel, we only as far north as Oregon and as far south as the top of Mexico. I suppose...it's because we don't want to be anywhere near the School." She said. "What about you?"

My eyes closed for a second, and my whole past rushed at me. I'd blocked these memories for a long, long time. "Savannah-the other leader who is kidnapped-and I were at the school in Texas. She was born there and I was transferred there when I was about six, that's why she has a slight accent and I don't. Anyway, we were thrown together in the same cage because there wasn't enough room, and because we were both avian-human hybrids. We became friends quickly, and planned our escape together." I said. "And...that's when you fell in love with her." Indy said, plainly. I glanced sideways at her. "What?"

She rolled he eyes. "It's so obvious. When you're talking about her you get that weird, dreamy look." I blinked, laughed, then made a funny face at her. She didn't smile. Well, all nuts are tough to crack at first. "Okay, maybe you're right, but we broke things of as more than just friends." I told her. _At least she did. _I added in my mind. "Yeah but you still love her." Indy reminded me.

"Oh yeah? How do you know that?" I challenged, even though I knew she was exactly right. Indy looked straight ahead. "You can't stop loving someone just _like that._"

I tried to ignore the fact that Felix had said the same thing. We were quiet for a long moment. "So how did you acquire the rest of your flock?" Indy asked. I thought for a second. "When Savannah and I broke out of the School, we headed north, and ran into Harlow, who immediately joined. She had Andrew with her. We got as far north as Canada, where we rescued Felix from a swarm of Erasers, and then a month later got Ash. That's it." I told her.

"Hi, guys, not meaning to interrupt or anything because I know you hate it when I do that and you told me to not do that so much anymore, but I totally am starving and Andrew agrees with me and we want food and Felix wants to sleep and probably Harlow too so if it's okay can we please stop Chase please please please?" Ash came over and said in one long, hurried breath. Indy glanced at her strangely, then looked to me. "What'd she say?"

"Yeah, Ash, that's fine, we'll stop. I heard of this place called Lower Wacker Drive, which is a street under Chicago. We'll sleep there." I said. Then I smiled at Indy. "Nice talking to you."

**Ash's PoV**

"Oh my gosh this is totally one of the most coolest places I've ever been to in like practically my whole entire life!" I shrieked, my voice bouncing of the walls back to me. "Shhh!" Felix said, nudging me. "Someone will hear you!" I rolled my eyes. "Aw, no one's going to hear me. It's like ten o'clock and nobody is on this street."

The street we were on was like practically under the city, filled with beaming lights. It reminded me of a tunnel, but a really long, awesome tunnel. We made our way to the side, climbing on top of a jutting out ledge and huddled together. Andrew was curled on Harlow's lap, Felix and I were back to back, Indy went a couple feet away from us and lay down, Horace went even farther away from us to sleep, and Chase sat up to take first watch.

I closed my eyes, thinking I'd fall asleep fast, but instead I started thinking of Savannah. Was she okay? Where was she sleeping? I suddenly got a picture of her chained to a wall or strapped into a chair or something, scared, cold, and wondering if she would ever get out. I shivered, only a little from the cold. What if she was being hurt? Where was she staying, anyway? Was she even still alive?

My eyes flew open and I was scared. I subtly glanced around...it looked like everybody else was sleeping, or close to it, except Chase of course. When he wasn't looking, I glanced into his eyes. They looked a little scared, too, and I wondered if he was thinking about the same things I were. "Chase?" I said, very softly, sitting up. Chase glanced over at me and I scooted over by him. "What do you think is happening to Savannah? I can't get her out of my head." I asked.

Chase put his arm around me. "Ash, if you're having scared thoughts right now, try to push them away as hard as you can. You know why? Because Savannah is a strong, smart, willed person who can get out of most situations." He said, reassuringly. "Remember that one time when we were surrounded by Erasers in the dessert, and they were closing in really fast from all sides? And remember when whitecoats tried to inject me with that syringe full of polyprotic acid? And remember when Felix was trapped in that huge net and 'bots were coming at him with lasers?"

I nodded, not exactly getting where he was going with this. "Who was the hero in all those situations?" Chase asked. I thought for only a second. "Savannah." I said softly. Chase smiled a bit. "Exactly. So do you think she can handle getting kidnapped?" I took a deep breath. "It's not exactly that I'm worried about." I admitted, looking up at him. "Chase, she's all by herself. That's why I'm scared. The rest of the times we were with or near her, but now...she's alone."

Chase sighed, heading thumping back against the concrete wall. "I know." He whispered. "I know." I leaned into his shoulder. "Everybody needs a hero, even a hero herself." I said. Chase patted my head gently. "She told us to meet her in Georgia." He reminded me, but he didn't sound to sure of it now.

There was a long minute of silence, and the only sounds we could hear were the cars up above us and the buzzing of the electric lights. "Are we going to let Horace and Indy stay with us for now?" I asked, quietly in case one of them were still awake. Chase pressed his lips together. "I think, for now, we'll let them stay, for Harlow's sake." He said softly.

**Savannah's PoV**

I had to admit it, I was crying. Not out loud, but silent tears streaked down my dirty face as I screamed and cried and whimpered and moaned on the inside. Pain, pain, intense pain was all I could feel right now, inside and out. After I'd refused to give Vladimir any sort of information about myself, the rest of my flock's powers, and refused his offer to help create the next Holocaust, some huge, burly men had come into the room and beaten me the old fashioned way. By that, I mean with rope, sticks, whips, and chains. Honestly, it was almost, _almost _worse than any kind of pain I'd experienced at the School.

I looked at my bloodied hands, not even wanting to know how many times worse the damage was on my raw back. My arms were bruised so heavily and badly I could hardly move them, and small scars were cut into my wrists. Every time I'd say the word "no" (or anything of the sort), the men would cut a half-inch slice into my arm with a rusted knife. Then my feet-they whipped them so badly it hurt doing nothing at all.

But worst of all were my wings. They'd twisted them in ways you couldn't imagine and even burned some of my sensitive feathers. Now I was curled up in a musty, abandoned walk-in freezer. My hurt wings were wrapped pitifully around my body, even though the slight pressure of my wings on my back burned like nothing else.

I knew I couldn't make it to Georgia, probably couldn't even escape at all. Tears dripped onto my fingertips, and even those cool drops burned against my skin. The weird thing was-the evil men had left my face alone completely, that was the only part of me that didn't hurt.

I also knew about the very real possibility that I might not ever see my flock again-which brought more tears pooling out of my eyes.

Harlow. The only girl even close to my age, who I loved more than I could probably even say with words. Maybe she didn't feel like anybody loved her at times, but if I could ever easily admit how I felt, I would tell her that she has been the best, sweetest, kindest friend I'd ever had. I remembered once when I'd actually gone to her for advice a couple of months ago, and I was actually nervous about talking to her. Nervous she wouldn't understand, or that she'd laugh and think I was stupid. She didn't. She'd been honest and sympathetic, and she'd said all the right things. I loved how she was like a mom to us all, especially Andrew, and was the most comforting person I'd known.

Felix. My funny, cheerful, yet sometimes scarily-serious guy that was just like me in a lot of ways. He and I paired up a lot when doing stuff, we had that odd connection that Chase and Ash did. Felix was like a brave little solider: loyal and smart, and willing to do anything for people he loved. He also forgave easily, which I loved him for. Forgive and Forget, that's what he put into practice. As old as he acted and was sometimes forced to be, he was still my favorite nine-year old buddy who was a fun-loving kid at heart. I loved when he came to me with lots of questions about how stuff worked, or why stuff happened. He was _my_ Felix, that's all I could say.

Ash. I don't think I'd ever loved and been so annoyed at a kid so much as I do Ash. I could think of a million words to describe her, like bouncy, happy, outgoing, upbeat, fun, and energetic, but there would never be enough. She was the one, who, like Chase, could cheer just about anyone up and put a smile on any one's faces. I also loved the other side of her, that was fierce, vicious, and sometimes violent. She was a tough girl, and even though she sometimes cried, she never was a baby. I also appreciated her girly half, and secretly, when she talked about me and Chase together, it actually made me feel good, like somebody was _for_ us. I loved Ash simply to death.

Andrew. My sweet, precious little baby whom I adored. I never, _ever_ regretted bringing him into the flock, even though he was only four years old. He was a little ball of energy but a constant joy at the same time, and seeing him in battle is the scariest, most impressive thing I have to watch all the time. Sure, I get tired of his obsession with zoos, and that he isn't older and can't talk things out like the rest of us, but that didn't matter when it came down to it. Andrew was a little boy, and would _always _be my little boy.

Chase. My heart broke a little more even thinking about him. Even if I had a year, I could never say enough about how much I really did love him. Breaking things off with him was possibly the hardest thing I'd ever done, and now the chance of never seeing him again was unthinkable. I needed him so much, because I loved him so much. And if I ever did see him again, I would tell him exactly that. When we were just little kids, stuck together in that awful crate back at the School, the first thing he'd ever said to me was; "why do you have a funny voice?" It was because of my accent, and I think I hit him or something, because I thought he was teasing me. Then, unexpectedly, he smiled and said it was "the prettiest voice he'd ever heard". After that, I'd just kind of fallen for him and have been ever since. My whole inside ached when I relived all the hugs he'd given me...Chase gave the best hugs in the world. He'd scoop you up and practically suffocate you, rub your back, and twirl you around. I missed his arms right now so much that the tears that had stopped flowed again. I remembered when he kissed me just a few days ago on the beach. By far, the best thing I'd ever experienced in my life, and then I'd ruined his by telling him I didn't love him. I regretted that, so bad, and I could only hope he knew that. I loved him. I did. I loved him more than anything.

Finally, exhausted, I fell into unconsciousness, slightly comforted by thoughts of the people I loved most in the world.

**There you go! I...thought this was pretty good, just saying :) **

**Only TWO reviews for the last two chapters? *cries* I miss your reviews! They keep me going! Oh well...Please, please tell me what you thought, or what I can do better. And you know what? IDEAS FOR THIS STORY would be the best thing ever. Thanks! Love you guys! :) **


	15. Chapter 15

**Felix's PoV**

When I woke the next morning, I felt oddly happy, even though Savannah was missing. Harlow at least was back, and maybe with Horace and Indy's help we could free Savannah. I sat up, yawing, then gasped and leaped farther into the shadows of the under-city road as a semi truck roared by. That seemed to wake everybody up, especially Indy, who jackknifed to her feet and flung out a knife, looking instantly alert.

"Woah! Gosh, Indy, where'd you get _that_?" I gasped, motioning to the knife in her left hand. Indy shrugged and twirled it in her hands, gracefully and deadly. "I've had it. I keep it's sheath in my boot." By now Chase had stumbled to his feet, looking like he got no sleep at all. "You good in hand-to-hand combat?" He asked, shaking his hair out of his eyes. Indy nodded, her gaze slightly softening when she looked at Chase. Uh oh.

Ash started wandering out of the street. "Ugh, it's so bright outside! Where are we going today? What are we going to do?" She asked, already energetic and happy so early in the morning. I was guessing it was about five thirty am, or so. We all walked out into the sunrise, which was really pretty. Chase unfolded his wings, shaking them out. "We're going to look for Savannah. I don't care what she said, but we're going to find her. She's in trouble, I know it."

"So now she's suddenly in trouble? I thought you said she was going to be okay!" Ash said, looking concerned and a little upset. Chase shook his head. "Ash, hon, I was thinking a lot about what you said last night, that even a hero needs a hero, and you're right." He said. I unfurled my wings too, and that scary, sickening feeling settled in my stomach. "So, where do we start?" I asked quietly. Harlow picked up Andrew, swinging him onto her back. "What about South America?" She asked. "Isn't that where all bad guys take their victims?" She joked, but it had sort of a serious note to it. "I'm hungry!" Andrew announced, as we started walking towards the city. Chase nodded. "We'll stop to eat, then figure out where to go. As for South America, I'm not so sure." He smiled at Harlow.

Our group must have looked really unusual, a bunch of kids and an older man, and in no way did we look related, but we were decently clean and there weren't that many people out this early in the morning. We found this little cafe which Ash proclaimed was "insanely adorable", and within twenty minutes we were out of there and soaring thousands of feet in thin air, still not knowing where we were going. I was flying silently behind Chase and Harlow, trying to overhear what they were saying.

"Chase, I was being serious about South America." Harlow said in a defiantly-serious voice. Chase sighed. "I kind of figured you were. I trust you, Harlow, but going there would be like flying blind into a hurricane: you'd have no idea what to do or where to go." He said. Harlow laughed a little. "Nice analogy. But, I had a dream last night." Her voice dropped lower, and I strained to hear. "I have no idea why I dreamed it and maybe it was just my imagination overworking, but really horrible things were happening."

I saw Chase's hands clench. Part of me wanted to get away and stop listening right now, but the other half was anxious to know what Harlow dreamed. I decided to listen. If this involved Savannah or something, I deserved to know. "What was it about?" Chase muttered, raking his hand through his hair and tugging at it a little. Harlow let out a deep, long breath.

"I saw a room. It was more like a cell, actually. It was made of steel, or metal, or something of the sorts. There was a girl in the room, lying on the floor. In the dream I couldn't recall who it was, but now that I think about it, it was Savannah, I'm , it was her. She had wings, but they were broken and twisted." Her voice was quiet but perfectly steady, just like Harlow herself. Chase pressed a fist to his mouth but didn't speak.

I got this cold, cold feeling that coursed through me, and I felt like throwing up. But I kept listening, I couldn't stop now!

"Her whole body was wrecked. She was bruised, torn up, and..." Her voice dropped just for a moment, "Bleeding." She sighed, but spoke on. "There was blood, and way too much. I remember being in the room, watching, wanting to move closer to help but I couldn't. It was like I was chained or something, but my heart kept breaking and I could almost literally feel her pain. It was creepy, Chase. Very, very terrifying. What was worse, I could hear noises, sort of like echoes. There were screams, yelling, and words spoken in a language I couldn't understand. I'm not sure it was a language at all, actually, because it was so unintelligible. I started to break free, move forward, and I saw her look up at me. It was like the face of an angel, Chase, it was so different from her body. Her face was pure white and perfect, almost..."

Harlow's own face drained of color. "Almost as if she were dead." She murmured.

**Harlow's PoV**

I could feel my face and hands grow cold as I summoned back my dream, and every one of it's horrifying details. Things I didn't remember in the dream suddenly leaped out at me, and closing my eyes didn't help, at all. Instead I looked over at Chase, who was having an immensely hard time flying right now. I felt bad for loading him down with all this creepy stuff, but keeping it in scared me to much. He also deserved to know. If we had any chance at all of finding Savannah, this might help.

"What does this have to do with South America?" Chase asked, his voice sounding throttled. I blinked a few times, remembering my original point. "There was writing on the walls. Did I forget that? I did..." Again, I squeezed my eyes shut, recalling the symbols I'd seen. "There were numbers and weird letters I've seen before but I don't remember where. I do know that they pointed to South America, somehow, somehow." I whispered. I wondered if this made sense, or if I was going crazy.

"Andrew's red truck book." A soft, frightened voice said behind me. I whirled around at the exact same time as Chase and saw Felix, wide-eyed and just as pale-faced as I probably was. "What?" Chase gasped, "Did you hear the whole thing?" Felix flew a few feet closer to me and nodded, staring at his hands. "I'm sorry guys, but I couldn't help it. Harlow, we saw weird numbers and things in the book Andrew found at the library, the one about the red truck."

I needed to sit down. I was so confused and scared. "How do you remember this?" Chase asked, eyes boring into Felix's. Felix's fingers were twitching as he replied slowly; carefully. "Ash pointed out the weird and mixed up letters on the side of the red truck, and Harlow said it was the writing language used in Peru." I shook my head slowly, trying to remember all of this. "How did you...remember that?" Chase asked slowly. Felix broke eye contact with Chase and shrugged. "I have a good memory. Sometimes, guys, you should ask for help. Me and Ash know a lot."

I glanced at Chase, almost sheepishly. "Yes, Felix, I'm sure you're right." I said. Then to Chase, "We need to find out the name of that book."

At the same time, we flew quickly over to Andrew, who was playing air-tag with Ash and even Horace. "Andrew!" I called loudly, above the wind, "Come here for a second!" Andrew looked at me, then Ash, not wanting to leave the fun, but he came over anyway. "Hi! I'm playing!" He announced. I ruffled his hair, avoiding being hit by his white and black-tipped wings."I know, but I've got a little question for you."

Andrew looked up at me with his big, blue eyes and for just a second, everything seemed just a little less horrible. "Do you remember when we read a book about a red truck?" I asked. Andrew showed no sign of recognition. "No. Can I play now?" He said quickly. I bit my lip. _He _is _a four year old,_ I reminded myself. "Andrew, think again. It wasn't a long time ago, we were at the library. You got a book, a big one, on red trucks." I said patiently. Andrew smiled. "Ohhh! Trucks! I like trucks."

I rubbed my forehead. "Yes, I know. Do you like books about trucks?" I persisted. Andrew nodded. "Did you ever get a book about a truck?" My voice was hopeful. Andrew moved his little shoulders up and down. "Maybe. Do you like trucks?" I glared at Chase. who was laughing a little behind me. "Sure. Andrew, pay attention, pal. I need you to answer my question."

"I hate eggs." He said seriously. "But I want a truck. Can I have one?"

Maybe it was just me, but I was pretty sure he was doing this on purpose.

"Did you get a book on trucks?" I asked again, this time using the tactic of looking hard and intently into Andrew's eyes. They weren't so precious anymore, for some reason. "Um, yes." Andrew finally said, and I about died with relief. "What was it called?" I asked eagerly. Finally, finally maybe he'd cooperate!  
>Andrew shrugged again. "Trucks. Red Trucks. Oh! I like red trucks!"<p>

Or not.

I am a patient person, but I don't believe I've ever been this frustrated in my life. Then, unexpectedly, someone roughly pushed me out of the way and _Indy_, of all people, grabbed Andrew by both arms and glared at him. "Listen, kid," she growled, "Just tell us the name of the freaking book." Andrew, bless his heart, stared evilly back at Indy, unfazed. "I told Harlow lots and lots of times but she keeps on doesn't listening to me! I _like red trucks_." Indy let go, frowning, and backed off. I tried again. "Andrew, tell me one more time."

"I Like Red Trucks." He insisted. Suddenly, Ash started laughing. "You guys are so stupid." She giggled. "He means, that the name of the book is I Like Red Trucks. Remember?" Chase groaned, and I felt a little stupid. "Oh. Well, okay. Thanks Andrew." He smiled up at me, still happy. "Can I play now?" I nodded and he flew off again with Ash and Horace.

"So, what now?" Felix asked. Chase changed directions, motioning us to all follow him south south-east. "We go back to that library, and get the book. It was in Georgia, so even if Savannah managed to escape, we'd be in the right place anyway." He shouted. Without hesitation, we all followed Chase, slight hope breaking through this dark cloud of doubt and fear.

**Andrew's PoV**

(A/N...this is probably one of the only times I write in Andrew's point of view, because he's four, but this is kind of special and necessary right now.)

**I didn't tell them anything! **I cried again and again in my mind!

_I know, child. _

**Why won't you leave? Please leave! **I was scared! He wasn't going away!

_You came close, much to close._

**I am sorry! **Now I was cold. A lot cold, and _he _was doing it.

_Never again. Do you understand?_

**Yes! Yes! I promise! I promise! Please, just stop! **Slowly the coldness went away, a little bit.

_Never. Again. _

~~~  
><strong>So there! Review, please<strong>! **If that whole thing with Andrew was confusing, I promise it'll be explained! **


	16. Chapter 16

**First, thank you all for your reviews! Second...I just noticed it now, but Harlow seemed a little (or lot) OOC in the last chapter, sorry about that. Third...you are getting two close updates in a row since i didn't post at all last week, I was in Florida! Yay! **

**Chase's PoV**

I was starting to get nervous about Indy. Basically, though she was the last thing on my mind right now, it was worrying me that she might have started to...develop a crush on me? Maybe I was just imagining it, but it almost seemed like she was getting a friendlier with me more than the rest of the flock. In fact, I was the only one she talked to, besides occasionally Harlow.

There was no time to think about her right now, though, partly because I had little feelings for her at the moment, and partly because especially now, I needed to focus and really step up being the leader. I'd always shared duties with Savannah, and together it was really easy. We just...were a good team. We worked together really well. All of the sudden I missed her more, and I felt a little guilty for thinking about Indy in that way. The way of possibly becoming more than friends? It was ridiculous, and besides, I met her yesterday. In fact, I should be on better alert in case she was evil. I supposedly trust people to much, and someday I could wind up in trouble for that.

Harlow's dream scared me in ways one couldn't imagine. I'm sure it wasn't as horrible for her and Felix because they didn't exactly have the same _connection _and feelings for Savannah as they did. She was more than just my best friend, because I'd known her for so long that I could look at her, and know what she was feeling. I knew every one of her looks; from I'm-absolutely-going-to -murder-you-right-now, to please-hug-me-right-now. And she knew me well, almost too well, as if she could interpret what I was feeling even when I couldn't. We were almost like brother and sister. Except, you know, not related.

Anyway, getting back to the problem on hand. Going to Georgia to find that book was probably the most impulsive, most-likely stupidest thing I'll ever do, but it was the only sort of clue we had, and by all means we were going to act on it. But what Felix said about he and Ash knowing more than we thought, it also made me wonder. If they were wrong about the Aymaran language in the book, then this was going to be a huge disaster. On the other hand, if they were right, I'd have to give them a lot more credit than I thought. That really made me wonder about how much I appreciated my flock, and I decided, right then, to be way more thankful for who is in my life. Because if I've learned anything through this situation with Savannah being gone, it's you never know what you had till it's taken away.

(A/N...yes, yes, I know...there was no real point to that PoV, mostly just him rambling on...)  
><strong>Savannah's PoV<strong>

I woke up to sounds, and I think it was footsteps crashing down the hall. I could never be sure anymore, though. My hearing was all messed up, and I didn't trust it anymore. I didn't trust anything about me anymore, including my ability to stand, or even talk. This time I was right; it _was _footsteps, and they were getting louder and closer every second. Panic and adrenaline instantly overcame me, but I couldn't act upon it. I was hurt to bad and to much to barely move. Instead, I reached out my hands, and with a sudden flash of horror I realized I didn't recognize them, them or my arms. I somehow managed to drag myself along the cold, hard floor to the corner of the room, where I curled up into myself, face buried between my knees. Watching myself get hurt by these evil people was not something I wanted to see.

I don't think I've ever been this pathetic in my life, and I longed to jump up and fight, defend myself, but all I could do was try not to scream and wail in pain as they most likely would hurt me in unimaginable ways. The door flung open and Vladimir himself, flanked by the two huge men, strode into my cell. He shivered. "Oh, it is rather cold in here..." His smile grew evil. "Oh well!"

I didn't tell him that the coldness was relief to by burning body. I didn't reply at all, didn't even look at him. He wasn't worth it, wasn't worth the pain that shot through my skull whenever I moved my head. "So! Have you decided, worthless fool, if you vill join my cause or not?" Vladimir asked, motioning his guards forward a little, who were each holding a sick looking object that I didn't want to know what it was. I raised my head, looking at Vladimir coldly. "If I'm so worthless, why do you want me to join your "cause"?" I snarled, but it was weak and my voice sounded nothing like myself. Vladimir rolled his eyes. "Shut up, you stupid animal." He spat.

If I wasn't tortured and actually had the strength to, I probably would have said "Is that all you can do?". But I knew it wasn't, and right now, sticks and stones broke my bones, but his pathetic words didn't touch me.

"Vell? Do I get my answer?" Vladimir asked smugly, impatiently. I couldn't help it, my lip quivered. As much as I wanted to scream "Absolutely freaking NOT" at him, I didn't want any more pain being inflicted on me, I was tired, so tired of all of it. The guards, with their grim expressions, stepped threateningly forward, as if I had to make my decision fast.

Then a thought came to me. I was being treated exactly how the people in World War 2 were being treated, and for many of the same reasons, too. I'd never thought of how this had actually happened many years ago, like it _actually happened. _But whenever I'd read about it somewhere or saw a show about it on TV, it seemed so long ago and so brutal that it didn't click into my mind how very real it was.

I'll bet a lot of people felt that way, but now that it was becoming reality for me, I understood the Holocaust in ways I never had before. People have felt this before, people _have known _this same pain. A small, small burden lifted off my heavy heart and I felt a little stronger. Proudly, firmly, I looked Vladimir in the eye and shook my head. "No. I will never, _ever_ join your Holocaust. You can torture me all you want, but I will never accept."

I was expecting the most excruciating beating yet, but instead, Vladimir looked oddly disappointed, then silently turned on his heal and exited the room, slamming the iron door behind him.

Only a few more minutes, and I was bored, getting cold, and on edge. _Would my flock ever come? _I laid my head gently on my injured wing, and for the second time today, wept.

**Yes, I know it was short and rather unimportant, but still; REVIEW! Thanks!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Ash's PoV**

I'm pretty sure it's a bad habit, but I always somehow end up listening to conversations I'm not supposed to hear, getting into other people's business and _sometimes _I end up in the wrong situations. For example; right now. One of the worst possible things that I could imagine happened now. Well, not the worst ever, like if someone died or broke both their wings or got horribly sick or something, but to me, it was pretty awful.

We had been flying towards Georgia for about four hours, which was a major haul for Andrew, but then we were above Tennessee and we'd stopped for a break on top of this small mountain chain we'd found. It was the Smokys, and from way up there it was an amazing view. Indy had stood up, folding in her shaky wings and slowly walking away about ten yards from us, leaning against a tree for support. I looked at Chase, who glanced concernedly at her. He followed after her, and motioned for her to follow him into the woods. Nobody else was really paying attention, but I was curious to know what was happening, so I jumped up and crept after them.

"Indy, you have a fear of flying, right?" Chase was asking gently. Indy's head was bent as if she almost looked defeated, which was totally surprising. Then she looked up, and very slowly, she nodded. "I just wanted to let you know that it's okay. You don't need to try to be tough all the time and disguise your weaknesses, because we all have them. It's part of life; no one is invincible." He said, very sweetly.

Indy had looked like she didn't know what to say. Then, to my total amazement, I saw Indy's eyes starting to well with tears. My mouth dropped...Indy? Cry? I watched closer as she blinked back tears, but her hard, stony look didn't come back. Instead she frowned a little. "Sometimes you have to be." She whispered. Chase touched her shoulder. "Why's that?"

I was starting to get alarmed at how physically close they were getting. "I know all us bird-kids have gone through a lot at the Schools we escaped from, but some have gone through more than others." Indy said softly. Chase waited for her to continue. "They treated her..._.me_ so cruel, Chase, I don't even want to talk about it. I get nightmares just thinking about it, and getting this close to the School; it's bringing back so much stuff that I perfected in forgetting." Indy kept her eyes lowered the whole time when she was talking, and at the end her eyes met Chase's.

They both didn't move, didn't speak, for the longest time until Chase's hand slipped from Indy's shoulder to her waist, and drew her into a hug. Indy hesitated for second, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and turned her face into his shoulder, so I couldn't see her face anymore. My insides grew cold. This didn't mean anything, right? Chase hugged all of us! But that little voice in the back of my mind reminded me that Indy wasn't part of this flock and Chase didn't hug people for that long. Maybe he was starting to like her? But wasn't that cheating on Savannah? No, they weren't together anymore...Still!

I didn't like this, at all. That's when the really bad thing happened: they broke apart, Indy was smiling a little; and Chase was too. He turned to go back to the rest of the flock, but before he'd taken a step, Indy grabbed his arm, whirled him around, and kissed him.

There was a split second where Chase didn't move, as if he was deciding whether or not to kiss her back. Indy kissed him again encouragingly, but then Chase tore his lips away. "Indy!" He cried, shaking his head. He sounded sad and super disappointed. "What are you doing!"

Relief flooded me. He must still love Savannah after all! Indy looked mad. "Chase!" She said, aggravated and upset and frustrated. But apparently she couldn't say anything else because she walked right past Chase without another word. I slipped away too, but broke out into a run to get there before Indy. I arrived right on time, skidding down next to Felix while trying to wipe any suspicious look of my face.

Now we were flying again, almost out of Tennessee, and I couldn't help but look at Chase and Indy. They were acting pretty normal, still sort-of interacting with each other and Chase kept talking to everyone else. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

**Chase's PoV**

It'd been nearly an hour, but my lips still burned from Indy's kiss. I was still horrified that she'd done that...didn't just yesterday we talked about how I was still in love with Savannah? I could feel my face grow red every time I looked at Indy and felt bad. I hoped I wasn't too harsh, because I liked Indy a lot, but kissing me was way out of line. I was still surprised she'd done that at all, it wasn't like her to show emotions like that. I glanced over at her, and caught her staring at me. When I met her gaze, she looked apologetic.

Still, I cringed at the pleasure I felt while holding Indy; near the same way I felt when I held Savannah. I didn't get why I felt that way, _wished _I didn't feel that way, but it was apparently not in my control.

Maybe it was just me, but it felt like this flight was taking four times longer than it should. We had too many people, maybe we were getting slowed down. I made a promise to myself that as soon as we found Savannah; we would have Horace and Indy leave. The smaller the flock, the less likely we are to die. Surely, they'd understand that. I hoped, that when this whole thing would be over, that there would be less tension and drama between us all, especially me and Savannah.

Savannah. Though my lips were still warm and my heart was still trying to steady itself after Indy, I wouldn't let her go. I loved her too much to ever let her go; even for another girl. _What if she were dead? _My mind brought up the thought I'd been pushing back for hours now. _She's _not _dead, she could never die._ I told myself firmly.

"Chase!" A voice interrupted my tangled up thoughts, and I looked over to see Harlow gliding over next to me. "We're about to cross over the Tennessee-Georgia border. Do you remember which library we have to go to?" She asked. It wasn't to hard to remember, because we've probably gone to a total of two libraries in our lives. "Yeah. It was the Lay Park Resource Center in Athens." I remembered. "Athens is not that far from Atlanta."

Harlow solemnly nodded. "Think we'll get there by tonight?" I rubbed my forehead, resisting the urge to point out that if we didn't have these two extra people, we'd be getting there a lot quicker. But then I remembered I was the one who let them stay. "Maybe. Depends. Tonight, or if we sleep, early tomorrow morning." Harlow glanced ahead at Andrew, who was starting to goof off a little. "I'm going to fly with Andrew for a bit."

She was about to fly ahead again when she stopped and looked at me seriously. "Chase, try to smile, okay? We all miss you." Then she was gone.

~

About an hour later, it was ten o'clock and we'd reached Athens, Georgia. All totally worn out from our long flight, we found a large, open prairie and crashed. None of us bothered to take watch, partly because we didn't think there were many threats right now, but mostly because we were too tired. I tried to think of a plan before we slept, anything to keep myself distracted, but my heavy eyelids fell shut and I couldn't open them again, giving in to the pull of sleep.

When I awoke, the sun was shining brightly on us, warming my shoulders and neck. I sat up, squinting, and looked around at my flock... And Horace and Indy. Everyone else was asleep, and I decided to let them for a few more minutes. It'd give me time to think, to plan, to...I found myself looking at each member of my flock, one at a time, smiling to myself at their varied faces. Harlow, as usual, looked serene and peaceful, as did Andrew. Ash's lips were pulled down in the slightest of frowns, and Felix's face was buried in Harlow's wing, who surrounded him and Andrew.

Today; the library. After that? No clue. All I could do was hope or pray that we found any bit of information from Andrew's book that would point us in some direction. This whole thing, it didn't make sense. What would a children's book we read weeks ago have anything to do with a kidnapping that occurred just now? It was crazy, the more I thought of it, so I tried not to think about it.

Finally I stood, very gently unfolding my sore, stiff wings and stretched them out, rubbing my arms to keep warmer in the October air. At least it was warmer down South...I wondered what we'd do in winter. Just as I was about to clap my hands loudly and announce for the flock to wait, a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

I whirled around, snapping out my fist and ready to punch whatever enemy had come to attack us, but before I could stop myself, realized it was Horace. He easily deflected my blow, grinning at me. "Good reflexes, child. Ahh, I remember, back in my day, when I was a strapping lad like you!"

I couldn't help but smiling back. Horace was so easy to like and be around. "Um, thanks. Sorry for almost...hurting you." He waved his hand, brushing away my comment. "No matter. I wanted to talk to you anyway, son."

This could either be a good or bad thing. "Yeah? What about?" I asked, as respectively as I could. Manners were, in fact, something I tried to pay attention to. "First of all," Horace began, sitting heavily down on a conveniently-placed rock. "I'd like to thank you for being such a good friend to my Indianna. You know, I noticed she's friendlier now, mainly because of you."

I looked down, a little uncomfortable. If only he knew how much friendlier she was getting... "No problem. She's pretty cool, once you get to know her." I admitted honestly. Horace nodded. "Poor thing. Had a hard life, especially since the death of her sister." He said sadly. "The death of...her sister?" I repeated dumbly. Indy had a sister?

Horace sighed. "The story, just awful, it was so awful. I'm not going into details, because I swore to Indy I wouldn't tell a soul. Son, you may want to ask her yourself." He looked at me pointedly, expectantly. Slowly I nodded. "Yeah, I may do..." I trailed off, already getting haunting images planted in my brain, of _what_, I wasn't sure. I turned away, not wanting the man to see my face. I felt as though he could practically read through my expressions and know what I was thinking. Kind of like how Savannah could, but that was because she knew me so well. With Horace it was just creepy; his normally-cheerful light blue eyes were staring right through me.

At that moment, thankfully, I heard the sounds of my flock starting to get up, and turned around. "Let's go, guys, we got a busy day today!" I called, helping Harlow to her feet, smoothing Ash's messed up hair, and clapping Felix on the back. "Are we going to find Savannah today?" Ash asked. "And my wings are all stiff." She pulled out her wings and shook them a little. "It's just because of the long flight, but we made it; we're in Georgia now." I explained. "You guys all ready to go?"

Andrew was uncharacteristically quiet, and Indy was very characteristically silent. Harlow nodded, worry lining her face, and Ash and Felix mumbled "Yes" with not much enthusiasm. Horace just kind of watched over us, as usual. He usually didn't say a whole lot anyway. I decided, as a leader, to give a pep talk. I was pretty good at those. "Guys, listen up." I announced, putting on my most eager smile but only half meaning it. "I know we're pretty discouraged because we have nothing to go by except a book, but for all we know, it could be the biggest clue pointing to where Savannah is that we have. Now, I don't expect you guys to be overflowing with cheerfulness or whatever, but I want you to have good, positive attitudes. I know I probably haven't been the best example, but from now on, we're going to smile. It's what we need, what we all need to see right now. I hate seeing you guys all sad, and I'm sure Savannah would too." I thought that was pretty good; I'd give it a 7 on a scale of encouraging speeches.

"What if she's dead?" Felix whispered, looking at his shoes. That had occurred to me more than once; many more times than once. I reached out and tilted up Felix's chin with my hand, so he was forced to look me in the eye. "She wouldn't die." I said, with a touch of my old humor back. "We wouldn't let her."

**Indy's PoV**

(Yep, so this is another special point of view that you won't see that often, but as I said; it's special!)

There we were, back in the air. It seemed all we ever did was fly now; and I was just sort of getting used to it; getting slowly over my fear of heights. What Chase said yesterday made me think; what he said about me trying to stop being invincible.

Really; if only he knew.

There were a lot of things he didn't understand about my past, about myself, but there was a part of me that told me he was right. I was cold, I was unfriendly. Could I help that? Showing emotion was wrong, so wrong. That's what they taught us at the Institute, what they drilled into our heads and punished us if we tried to have an opinion of our own, or even try to speak up at all. They called us accidents, mistakes, and even though _she _told me again and again not to believe them, I couldn't help but start to.

That whole thing with Chase; that was probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made, but it was also the best thing I'd done in my life. Conflicting emotions rose up in me, tired of being pushed back, and for the first time in a long time I felt like crying. In fact, when Chase had his arms around me and was holding me really close, I almost _had_ cried. Just because that was the biggest show of emotion, the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me. Somebody cared. And I was caught up in the moment, I guess, because when I kissed Chase, I felt normal. Completed.

I'd never kissed a boy or been kissed before, never have wanted to. But when Chase's mouth was inches from my own, smiling so gently at me that I was pretty sure he could melt my heart, I couldn't help it. It was the best sensation my body has ever felt. His lips were warm and sweet on mine, and it was so perfect, everything was so perfect until... He didn't kiss me back. His lips were frozen against mine. I didn't want this to end, and I didn't want him to pull back.

Now that I think about it, Chase's friend Savannah never occurred to me. Never once did I think about her, that she was probably lying in a cell half dead, remembering Chase and waiting for him to rescue her, kiss her. Was it horribly selfish to not care? No; it's the way I was brought up.

But it was true. Even if I did think of her, I _wouldn't _have cared. All I could think was _kiss me, kiss me, kiss me_ over and over again. But he didn't. He didn't kiss me back. He was probably thinking of Savannah, remembering _her_ kissing him, and again, his mouth didn't move. In one more desperate attempt, I moved my mouth against his and kissed him one more time, but it was no use. Chase had torn our lips apart and was looking at me with total sadness and disappointment. It was all I could do not to scream and cry, but I kept everything together and had simply walked past him, beyond caring.

Now, flying thousands of feet in the cool morning air, my head was slowly clearing and I felt...dare I say it? Better than I have in awhile. I saw Chase glide over to me, brownish-gray wings gleaming beautifully in the sun, flecks of lighter gray and white prominent. I tried tearing my eyes away, but with his dark green eyes gazing into mine, it was a little hard. A lot hard, actually.

"Indianna," he said, pronouncing my full name in a way that made my heart do that weird thing again. "We need to talk."

I was pretty sure those were about the worst four words in history. "What about?" I asked calmly, even slipping an impatient note into my voice. Perfect. Hide your emotions, Indy. No emotions. "I wanted to apologize." Chase said, running a hand through his dark hair. My heart threatened to pound. No emotions. No emotions. "Why?" It was more a statement then a question. Chase was unfazed, as usual.

"Listen, Indy, it was my fault for provoking you to kiss me. Honestly it was, and I am sorry. I like you a lot, but..." His face looked troubled, and I held up a hand. "Right. You're in love with _her_, I get it." I said coldly. Now I was actually mad: mad enough to cry. "Just leave me alone, Chase. I don't want to deal with you right now." Or ever.

Chase looked distressed. "I want us to be friends!" He insisted. Something inside of me snapped. "Friends? Are you freaking _serious_?" I screamed above the wind. "Chase, you do _not_ know me! You don't _know_ where I came from or what happened to me! Just leave me alone!" In my mind I added _You don't even know how much you hurt me._

"What happened to your sister?" He yelled back, and it was as if time froze. My. Sister. How on _earth_ did he know about... My heart constricted painfully as tears of sadness and fury blinded my vision. It took me about ten seconds to fully realize my wings had stopped moving and I was dropping fast. I couldn't move them. They wouldn't work! I couldn't feel anything, I think I stopped breathing, because when I did, a choking sob escaped my throat and it burned. My. Sister.

It was as if time stopped, everything else slowed way down. All sounds were blurred, my vision was totally gone, the only thing I could feel was wind rushing up at me, way too fast. Suddenly, just as I was positive I'd hit the ground and die (something I now welcomed), two strong arms wrapped around me and I felt myself rising. (A/N..is it me, or does this sound way to much like Max's first headache? Sorry...don't mean for it to be like that...)

"Indy?" The voice said, but it sounded very faint and far away. I tried to answer, but all memories of my sister came flooding back to me, very fast and very painful. Sage, with her arms around me, screaming, trying to block me from the lab men, who were coming towards us with outstretched hands, looking evil and cruel. They ripped Sage away from me, anger on their faces, and threw her across the room. She lay, limp and head bleeding on the floor, eyes closed, and I remember shrieking for her. I was only six years old; she was eight. It seemed like an eternity till her eyes opened and, when the lab men's backs were turned, she crawled across back to me, and we both shrank in the corner, terrified. The lab men turned back for me and saw Sage with me again. One picked up Sage by her neck, shaking her until she was limp, and screaming at her. I cried pitifully, wanting to do something, anything to save her, but couldn't.

"Indy!" The voice said again, growing louder. I felt the sensation of being shaken, hard. "Indy!" It commanded again, until my vision cleared enough to see that the ground was way to close, and Chase was struggling to keep me aloft, because his wings were being crushed against mine. "I...I..." Was all I could get out, partially not knowing what to say at all. It was then I realized I was crying, really, truly crying. And it felt so _good_. As if all the pain and agony bottled up inside me was being let out, and relief was, for some reason, taking it's place. In fact, I didn't even mind that everyone was around me, watching with sympathy, or that I was showing more emotion than I have in my life, because it was _okay. _Everything felt at that moment that it was going to be okay.

"Indy, try to move your wings. Fly." Chase said, "I'm going to let go now." Then he dropped me. I felt the beautiful sensation of the ground rushing up at me, the wind whipping through my long hair, then stopped myself by moving my wings. It worked! I rose, high in the air, back to the rest of the kids. "What just happened there? That was like...totally scary." Ash said in a worried tone. "Yeah." Felix agreed. "He mentioned your sister and you freaked out. I thought you were dead or something!"

I was still crying, still looking kind of stupid, and I swiped at the tears with the back of my hand. Horace flew close to me, smiling gently, the way he usually did. "It's alright, Indianna." He said simply. "Guys, sorry, but look!" Harlow said, pointing down. "Athen's town center. The library's there!"

We all angled downwards, shooting downwards a little ways away from the people so we could land without being spotted, and I thought our little emotional moment was over, right? Wrong. The second we touched down, Andrew, of all people, flung his arms around my knees. "Harlow says that when people is crying you should hug them." He said. "So I am hugging you."

Then both the boy and girl who talk to much joined in, hugging me kind of awkwardly, but it was okay at the same time. Like earlier, the fact that somebody really cared touched me in way that was special.

That sounded really lame, but it's true. We all had this ridiculous group hug thing, then went to go to the library to find Andrew's book. Chase walked us to the front desk, smiling sweetly at the librarian. "Hello, ma'am, I'm looking for a certain book." He said.

The librarian smiled. "And which might that be?" She asked pleasantly. Chase blushed a little. "It's a book called I Like Red Trucks." The lady's eyebrows shot up. "It's for my...little brother..." Chase stammered, motioning toward Andrew. All the rest of us nodded like bobble head dolls, but the librarian still looked at us funny.

"Well, um, let me check if it's still here." She said, clearing her throat and starting to type something in on her computer. After a moment she frowned. "Sorry, kids, but that book has been checked out. And that's our only copy."

**UGH! Well sorry I haven't updated in a week, I was in Tennessee. However, I WILL get back to my normal updating, meaning you'll get another chapter every few days now. REVIEW! Thanks! :) **


	18. Chapter 18

**Felix's PoV**

"How could this _possibly _get any worse?" I whined, throwing myself into one of the straight-backed chairs on the top floor of the library. "Well," Ash began, "it _could_ possibly be worse if this building blew up this very moment and we all died."

I glanced at her funny. "How did you think up that?" I asked, and she shrugged. Harlow held up her hand. "That's not important now, guys. What's important is that we figure out how to get this book." Chase looked up from where he was sprawled out on the floor, and I noticed he kind of did that a lot when he was thinking hard. "Can't we just look in a bookstore or something? It's not like that was the only copy in the whole world."

It was quiet as we all looked at each other, then Indy stood up, looking pretty much back to normal after her whole emotional "I-almost-fell-from-the-sky-at-100-miles-per-hour" thing. It'd be pretty bad if she died, I supposed.

"I'll Google it." She offered quietly, then without waiting for a reply, dashed off to one of the many computers in this top floor. I scooted my chair over to Chase. "Hey Chase? Why did Indy start falling when you asked about her sister?" I asked, dropping my head onto my hand. Chase frowned for a moment. "Um, you see, Felix, I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that something really bad happened, and don't talk to Indy about..." He stopped abruptly as Indy hurried back, worry etched into her face.

"I can't find any results for the book. At all." She said, sinking into a cross-legged position in the chair next to me. Harlow's eyebrows shot up. "Not at all?" She echoed. "I tried everything." Indy replied simply. "Absolutely no results. According to the Internet, that book does not exist."

Ash stopped playing with Andrew. "But we read the book." She insisted. "Why is it only at this library, and why is there only one copy in the whole world?"

It was at that moment when Horace, who usually didn't say anything in most of our situations, spoke up. "Child, the book exists for a reason. It was created for _your purpose_."

Now, I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I had no idea what he just said. "But why?" Chase groaned. "And doesn't that seem really, really far-fetched? I mean, seriously. Why would this children's book be created for us?" He said. Horace looked at all of us disapprovingly, and it made me feel squirmy. "I believe it. And you will never know, unless you find that book." He leaned back in the chair he was on. "So! How do you plan on doing that?"

Again with that deathly silence. We all looked at each other, then all at Chase. "Why are you guys looking at _me_?" He asked. "Well, you are the leader now." Harlow pointed out. Chase glared at her. "Thanks, Harlow, I needed that right now." He snarled. I guess it didn't sound all that mean to Harlow, because she just laughed in that nice, quiet way that makes her look really pretty.

Just then Andrew stood up, and walked to the middle of the rough circle we were forming. "How about we just go to the person's house that has my book, and just ask 'em for it?" He said, crossing his arms across his chest. Indy's shoulders slumped. "Are you serious? Why's the three year old coming up with ideas?" She murmured.

Andrew stalked up to her, pointing into her face. "I am almost five, meanie."

**Harlow's PoV**

"Andrew, you're really smart." I admitted, holding his little hand while we all trooped up the front steps to the door of this cute house about a ten-minute's walk from the library. It was a dark blue home with white shutters, and a red door. It looked very cute and family-like, the kind of house that'd have three young children, a frazzled mom, and a cheerful father.

I stepped forward, being the oldest here, and rapped on the door. Horace had left about a half-hour ago, saying he was going to sit this one out and find a quiet spot near a lake to rest a few hours. So we'd gone on without him, with only a little hesitation from Indy. She was really getting used to us, taking a special liking to Chase and I. Most people did, actually.

The door opened, and it was _not_, in fact, a frazzled mom. It was a teenage boy, who looked around the same age as me, maybe older. "Whattup." He said, jerking his head up at me. I blinked, surprised at the weird feeling I got looking at this...cute guy. He had white-blond hair and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. "Uhm...Hi." I stammered back.

_What was I here for again?_ I thought desperately, looking meaningfully at Chase. He shot this totally silly grin at me then replied to the guy. "Sorry to bother you guys, but we were wondering if...Maybe you have any younger kids in your house? Like about his age?" He said, motioning at Andrew, who waved. The guy looked at all of us suspiciously. "Yeah." He said, slowly. "Who wants to know?"

"We do, duh!" Ash laughed, obviously not understanding what this guy meant. I nudged her back. "We were just at the Lay Park Resource Center, looking for a book, but someone from this address had already checked it out." I said, finding my voice again. "And we need it. Like, really bad."

The guy's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Is that right, honey." He replied, grinning at me. Indy sighed, annoyed. "Actually, yeah. It is right." She snapped. "We need this freaking book, so if we could just get it, that'd be _fabulous_." Her words were coated in sarcasm, hands clenched. I guessed she didn't like it when people doubted or didn't believe her, it made sense.

I remembered my brilliant, useful skill I retained about how people naturally like me, and also remembered Indy _didn't have it._ The guy raised his hands in mock defence. "Chill, sweetheart. Why don't you guys...come in." He offered, then yelled "MOM! WE HAVE COMPANY!" Over his shoulder into the house.

Our whole group followed him into his house, which was just as adorable inside as it was out. The guy led us into a kitchen, where the mom was baking something, and a little girl with long blond hair was coloring at the table. The mom looked up, pushing frizzy red hair away from her face. "Hi guys! Are you friends from Matt's school?" Then she noticed our diverse ages, and shook her head. "Mmmm, certainly not." She decided in amusement.

Ever-charming Chase took the initiative. "This may sound totally weird, ma'am, but we came all the way from...Atlanta...to find a book for my little brother!"

The little girl coloring at the table jumped down from the chair that was way to big for her. She'd been sitting on stacked phonebooks. "Hi! I'm Chryssie." She announced, skipping over to Andrew. Andrew beamed. "Hi Chryssie! I like you. You're nice!"

I turned back to their mom, who was looking almost the same as the librarian had earlier today. "Which book?" She asked. "It's called I Like Red Trucks." Felix said. "It's Andrew's favorite book." He threw in. The mom nodded. "Oh, yes! It's his favorite book? I certainly understand why you came all this way, then. Chryssie would simply do _anything _to get a book she adored!" She said, smiling understandingly at us.

I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Looks like this would be a lot easier than we thought! "Chryssie, remember the book about trucks you got? Go get it for a second, please." The mom told her daughter. Chryssie grabbed Andrew's hand. "Can my new best friend come with me?" She pleaded. The mom looked at me, and I looked at Andrew. Every warning sense in me screamed to never let Andrew out of my sight, but, the good outweighed the bad possibilities. I didn't think Andrew was going to be kidnapped by a four year old girl _or_ her mother, and Andrew had never had a friend before, his own age. I figured to let him be normal, for once.

"Go ahead, Andrew." I nodded at him, and Andrew's grin seemed to light the room. "Thanks Harlow!" He cheered, then ran off with his new little friend. "Do you guys want some brownies? They just came out of the oven a few minutes ago!" Their mom said, motioning at the table. ""Please, sit.'"

We all looked at each other again, wanting to get out of here, but then the boy, Matt, nudged my hip. "I advice you to sit. My mother insists on feeding _all_ her company." He told us. "Harlow? Chase?" Felix whispered to us, "please can we stay, just for a minute? I haven't had real brownies in...forever." He asked, hope in his hazel-colored eyes.

I supposed the same rule about not staying long in places or not trusting people applied to us too, but this was up to Chase, who looked like he really wanted Savannah right now. "Yeah, maybe a few minutes" Chase said reluctantly.

We all slid into chairs around the glossy oak table, and Matt sat beside me while his mother served us gooey, thick brownies. (A/N... I'm drooling just writing this...to bad I'm L.I ) "So, I never caught your name." He said, in a flirty tone.

Wait a second. Flirty tone? This has never happened to me before, but I was liking it. "Harlow." I said, batting my eyelashes at him the same way Savannah did to Chase, all the time. Used to do to him... I felt kind of moronic, but Matt seemed to like it. "As you know now, I'm Matt." He said sweetly. "Where are you from? You don't have my accent." He remarked. I froze. Where I was...from? I thought fast. Honestly, I didn't know what kind of accent I actually had. Fortunately, Chase (I love him), thought quicker than I did. "Washington State." He answered breezily. I shot him a look of appreciation, and he winked at me. "We're from Washington State."

"And you said you guys are related? You don't look that much alike..." Matt threw in. I bit my lip, trying to think of a way out of these questions. Questions like these were _bad_, would get us in trouble. "Adopted, that sort of thing." I shot him a faux-troubled look. "We don't like talking about it." I said, dramatically. "It...hurts." I smiled sadly at him. Matt looked really concerned. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He said honestly.

Felix and Ash were looking at me with wide eyes, and Chase looked impressed. I was a little proud of myself too...I'd picked up a lot more than my flock thought. I bit into my warm brownie, which was all melt-y and fabulous, and savored every single bite. This was probably the first (and last) time I'd ever have a homemade brownie.

After a few more minutes of talking (flirting, yes, I was doing it) with Matt, it occurred to me that Andrew or his new little friend weren't back yet. So, of course, I panicked. I shot upright, glaring meaningfully into Chase's eyes as I mumbled "Why isn't Andrew back yet?" Matt stood up to, taking my elbow and already starting to lead me out of the room. "It's fine, we'll check on them." He said calmly, yet flippantly.

I followed him up the staircase, scanning the place for windows and any other place where I could make a quick escape with Andrew, if necessary. "Here's her room, Andrew's probably in there." Matt motioned towards the first white door in this hallway, eyes never leaving mine. It was sort of awkward, so I broke our gaze and opened the door.

Andrew was, in fact, in the room, facing Chryssie and holding both of her hands. "What...is going on?" I whispered, seeing Chryssie with a dress-up veil on. Andrew looked at me, grinning in that way that only four year olds can. "We're getting married!" He announced. I blinked. "You're _what?_" I repeated stupidly, and then I heard Matt laugh behind me. "Chryssie," he pretended to scold, "you've already gotten "married" to Jon, Lincoln, Alex, Evan, _and_ Elliot!" He counted them off on his fingers, while I stared at him in horror.

Chryssie stuck out her lip. "Yes but I like Andrew best of all." She declared, pushing back the veil that was falling half-way down her face. Matt looked at me apologetically. "Seriously, she does this all the time. I have no idea why." He said. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time for some reason, but instead took Andrew's arm and hustled him out of the room. "No more getting married, okay kid?" I said, but it was more concerned than angry. "Aww, Harlow, it's fun getting married." Andrew insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "We're on a mission, remember?" I whispered. Then I remembered the book. "Where's the book?" I hissed. Andrew smiled, then turned around back to Chryssie. "Can my Harlow see the book please?" He asked, and Chryssie thrust it into my hands. "Here you go. I don't really want it anymore. I like princesses better than trucks." She shrugged.

I noticed the huge, halfway open windows on one of this little girl's walls, and believe me, there's nothing I'd rather do more than leap out them with the book and get far, far away from here. Then, as I oh-so-calmly walked back down the staircase with Andrew, decided two things:

One, flirting with a boy wasn't as hard as I'd imagined, and two, getting attention from a boy was something I could get used too.

(A/N... there, don'cha think Harlow deserved her little moment? :)

**Ash's PoV**

"Finally!" I yelled, when we were back at the top floor of the library again, after leaving the family's home, "We got the book, now we can figure out the code and save Savannah!" I cheered. Indy laid a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, girl. We don't even know if this will actually work." She reminded me. I sighed. "Come _on_, you are _so totally_ negative. Didn't Horace just say that this book was created for us?"

Indy looked at me coldly. "He doesn't know everything. That was probably just some random guess to get our hopes up." Well, her moods changed fast... Harlow was already cross-legged on the ground, holding the book out on her lap. I looked at her closer and saw that her cheeks were pink and her eyes were kind of sparkling. I knew she was happy because of the boy she met, Matt.

"So, guys, it seems that there _is _some sort of code in here." Harlow said softly, but with excitement. We all crowded around next to her, trying to see the little tiny letters and numbers she was pointing out. "Woah, it's almost as if the characters were weaved into the pictures." Chase said in wonder. "I don't get it." Felix announced, and I totally agreed with him. Maybe this stuff was just way over our heads, but I had to understand this because this was our mission, and I wasn't about the let the older kids upstage me and Felix.

"We don't even know what this stuff means." Indy grumbled, kicking the floor with the toe of her boot. "Plus we don't even know the language."  
>Chase leaned back. "That's why we're in library." He said, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "We need a magnifing glass or something to even read what that says." Felix said, squinting at the page. "You can barely even see the stuff. You know, I think Horace is right. I think this book was meant for us to find."<p>

I wasn't sure who I believed, and maybe I'd wait till we rescued Savannah before I decide. _**If **__we rescue her._ Some part of my mind reminded me, but of course I pushed that away. I was going to be positive, just like Chase said earlier. "Want me to go see if this library has a magnifing glass?" I offered. Chase looked up at me with a tired smile. "That'd be good, Ash."

I shot upright and walked out of the large room, down the winding staircase and stright up to the front desk. The stern-looking libarian was still there. "Hi!" I said nicely. "I have a question."

"Yes?" The libarian, who had a nametag that said _Johanna, _asked. "Does this library have a magnifing glass?" I asked, as sweet as I could. The lady named Johanna sighed. "Yes. Children's section, downstairs. Ask the libarian down at the desk." She said, then turned away to help some other lady.

I ran down the second set of stairs, slowing down only for a second when I passed the huge sign that stated _No Running, Please._ When I was at the bottom, I looked around and saw another desk. "May I please use your magnifing glass?" I asked, feeling like I was at the end of my paitence level. Sometimes it was hard being polite all day! "Sure!" The man said, handing a sheet of paper. "Just sign your name here and when you return it, sign it again."

He also handed me a pen and I thought for a second, deciding which name to write. Of course I couldn't sign it as Ash, I knew better than that. Grinning, I carefully wrote _Ashley Johnson _in my best handwriting. "Thank you, young lady!" The libararian said, then gave me a big magnifing glass.

I dashed back up the two flights of stairs to the rest of my flock, then dropped the magnifing glass into Harlow's lap. "How are we going to read this anyway?" I asked breathelessly, from running up and down the stairs. In response Felix held up a book that had to be at least a thousand pages. "This is a list of all forgein languages known in the world."

My eyes grew wide. "How on earth are we supposed to match our language to the one in the book? There's got to be a quadrillian languages in there!"  
>Harlow didn't even look up as she replied, scanning the pages with the glass. "Yes, but the key is to narrow it down." She said, then suddenly shouted in exclamation. "Chase!" She screamed, then lowered her voice. "Look at this! I found something!"<p>

Again, we all pushed to crowd around Harlow, who was pointing at a few scrambled up letters that did, in fact, look sort of woven into the picutre of a red truck. My mouth dropped. "OMG I totally see it." I whispered. Just then Harlow's head shot up. "This is the language I saw in my dream, on the walls of the cells, Chase." She whispered, looking terrified and horrified at the same time. Chase gently took the book and magnifing glass from her. "Maybe we should use the internet for this, after all, these letters are actual letters. We could type them in at some translating site and see what we get." He suggested.

There was this sense of fear and anticipation hovering over our group as we all moved to one of the computers, and Chase typed in "translation" in the search bar. Up popped a bunch of websites, and when we settled on one, typed in the random letters we'd seen in the book.

I think we all held our breath as the site took forever to process the detected language into English, but after about ten seconds of loading it was compete.

"South." Harlow said, softly. "It says South. What does that mean?" She glanced around at all of us, who were studying the computer screen intently. "Well," Felix said after a minute, "that could be just one word of a sentence or something, you know?" He shrugged. "You found that word on page three? Maybe on other pages you could find more words!"

After that, it almost turned into a game as we hunted for the strange letters, typed them into the computer, and let them translate. Finally, when we'd gotten to the page eighteen, the last page of the book, we found our last word. Indy, who had been writing all the words down, frowned at the pad of paper. "We have a bunch of random words. Maybe they're just mixed up?" She sighed. "What are the words?" Chase asked.

Indy ran her fingers through her long hair. "We have South, of, place, Peru, victim, is, holding, America, and the" She read off. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is mixed up." Indy sounded aggravated and like she'd rather be anywhere but here doing this, and she sunk down into a chair again. Despite all, I saw Chase smile. "Guys, this is amazing. We're getting somewhere. Now everybody unscramble these letters, and we'll see who comes up with the best sentence that sounds right."

Felix and I glanced at each other at the same time, and both knew what each other was thinking. We'd be a team on this, we'd always be a team. He and I hunkered down next to each other at a different table, with our words that we'd copied off of Indy's sheet in front of us. After a few minutes of thinking and piecing together words, Felix said he thought he came up with something. "How about: South of America is Peru's holding place, victim." He said. "It...sort of makes sense, right?"

I tilted my head, thinking about it too, but it didn't seem right. "I suppose it could be correct but it just doesn't help us much, you know? Like it isn't that big of a clue." I muttered. "Let's keep trying." In another few minutes, I came up with the next one. "What about: Peru is holding the victim of South America?"

"Um," Felix admitted, "it makes more sense. I think that's our best shot. I wonder what the others came up with?" We stood and hurried back to Harlow and Indy, who were working together, and Chase, who was (again) sprawled out on the floor on his stomach with Andrew holding the paper upside down. "I like pie." Andrew announced. "That's what it says." He laid the paper on the ground neatly next to Chase, as if finalizing it.

"I'm with Andrew on that one." Chase agreed, rolling over and sitting up. "What have you lovely ladies come up with?" He asked Harlow and Indy. Harlow's lips were pressed tightly together and Indy looked frustrated too. "Well, we got nothing. At all." Harlow said quietly. "My brain is fried." Indy threw in. "This seriously isn't working."

Felix and I looked at each other and then back to them. "A lot of times, little kids like us are way smarter than older kids like you." I said, placing my hands on my hips. "Yeah!" Echoed Felix. "We got: Peru is holding the victim of South America. Now doesn't that make sense?" He asked happily. Indy stood, nearly knocking her chair over but grabbing it at the last second. "See? What'd I tell you earlier about these _kids_ always getting inspiration?"

Chase looked glad, too, and my insides felt like they were unknotting in a really good way. "It's saying that Savannah's probably getting held in Peru! A victim is the person that the bad thing is happening to, right?" I confirmed, and Indy nodded.

"Great job, you guys." Harlow said, then glanced outside the window. "Would you believe we've been going at this for hours? It's way past lunch." Chase nodded. "Why don't we get something to eat, then..." An odd expression crossed over his face. "Go to South America?"

**Okay, okay. So that chapter just **_**reeked**_ **with no inspiration. Yeah, that's really my fault, I was having kind of a down-week. So hopefully the next chapter will be better, and that I'll have more time to work on it and update much sooner. **

**Right, and sorry if I've been having bad or incorrect grammar on this chapter, because, as Indy said, my brain is FRIED right now. The only opportunities I've been getting to write are at 12-2 in the morning. **

**REVIEW, please, I love to hear your comments. Thanks! **


	19. Chapter 19

**Savannah's PoV**

Tears had long since stopped flowing; I didn't have anything in me left to cry out. Pain, sadness, fear, all those had been drained away and now the only thing I felt is numbness. Regrets were all I thought about, regrets about Harlow, for not being a better friend to her. Regrets about Andrew for not showing how much I cared about him. Ash, for telling her to be quiet all those times she looked at me with huge, adoring eyes telling me what she thought of stuff. Felix for teasing him about Ash all the time, regretting it because he always took my teasing and never fought back.

And of course, regrets about Chase. I didn't regret falling in love with him, never would. That was something I really couldn't help. What I regretted was breaking things off with him, trying to fall _out _of love. Which didn't work; at all. The quote "out of sight, out of mind" was probably the farthest possible truth right now, because his absence made my heart grow fonder. If I survived this and somehow escaped, or if my precious flock came to rescue me, I would never feel the same way about them again.

Biting back a moan of pain, I pushed up against the floor to get to my hands and knees and sit back on my raw heels. My whole body ached, it'd never known pain like this before. When I looked around my small, cold cell, I only moved my eyes because shards of pain would shoot through my skull if I tried moving my head, and it wasn't worth it any more. Slowly I managed somehow to drag myself over to a different corner of a room, one that didn't have dried blood on the floor. This was the first time I'd moved in two days.

Then, suddenly, I noticed something I'd never have before. There was a patch of light shining on the wall, about the size of a dime. My eyes followed the trail of ray across the cell and to a little window on the ceiling, mostly covered by slime and dirt. I reached up my hand, painfully, and touched the golden light. Maybe it was just my imagination, but my fingers almost felt warmer and for just a quick, peaceful second, I didn't feel quite so bad.

But then the familiar, clomping sound of boots echoing down the hallway shattered my moment, and I wrapped my arms around my legs and pulled my knees to my chest, mentally preparing myself for the second the next person threw open the door to my cell. I realized I was holding my breath, and carefully I let it out, shakily and wearily. There were voices talking rapidly in a language I didn't understand, and it made me wonder for the first time where I actually was. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but for some reason it seemed very unimportant. I tried listening harder, and I picked up on a few Spanish words. Then I heard the voice of Vladimir, his cold, cruel voice, and every mental preparation I had going for a minute vanished. He was the only person that I was really, truly scared of.

His guards didn't matter. They did the same thing every time: come in, use whatever torturing device they had that time, and leave. The convulsion didn't even matter anymore, it was just something, that no matter how much it hurt, it _didn't _at the same time. It was as if the numbness from my mind spread to my body.

"Why hello there!" Vladimir said in a pleasant sounding voice. "How are you feeling?" His voice was drowning in sarcasm but his face was neutral. "Like crap." I muttered, "You just about done with this torturing thing? I'm obviously not about to break."

Vladimir shook his head slowly. "You will give in. We have our ways." His voice was like a snake: slithery and deadly. Then he snapped his fingers and the guard stepped in, dragging someone by their elbow behind him. The guard dropped the figure next to me, and when I peered closer, it appeared to be a boy, who's age I couldn't tell. His face and body were too bloody, bruised, and disfigured to tell. "Who's this?" I asked, voice wary.

A smirk formed on Vladimir's lips. "This is Colden. He is an example to you about what will happen if you do not assist in my plans." Then he did his signature turn on his heel, motioned for the guard to follow, and strutted out of the room. Then something very surprising happened. The guard turned to look at me, and just for a moment, I thought I saw a look of sympathy on his face. Then the door shut, and I was left alone with this person.

Actually, when I took a closer look, it made me feel like I wasn't hurt so badly and my cuts and bruises pained less. I was nothing compared to this boy. Gingerly, I moved a lock of hair away from his face and gasped. His eyes, pure blue and unblinking, were staring what seemed right through me. "Hello." I whispered, which was all I could think of to say. The boy's lips moved, but no sound emitted.

Dried tear streaks were trailed down his face, but the scariest thing was that he looked _dead_, in a way, but still alive. Alive yet dead. "This is...what's...going to happen...to you." Colden choked, voice cracked and hoarse.

And that was exactly what I'd been thinking myself, even though I didn't allow myself to. This was exactly why Vladimir put him in this cell with me, as an example. "Does Vladimir want you to be part of his Holocaust too?" I asked, lightly touching his face, examining his severe injuries. Colden's eyes weakly opened again. "Wanted. Not anymore." Then his eyes filled with tears. "I'm almost dead."

My free hand lying limply on the floor squeezed into a fist, and I felt the warm, familiar feeling of anger and adrenaline run into me. "You are not dying." I hissed, gripping his chin in my hand. "My friends are going to rescue me, and you too. You'll come with us. You'll make it."

Colden's lips turned up in the faintest ghost of a smile. "No." He said, then his eyes fell shut. Horrified, terrified, I gathered his head and upper body into my lap and watched, frozen, as he died in my arms.

**Chase's PoV**

"Alright, this is it guys!" I called, hovering at least a thousand feet over somewhere in Peru, South America. It'd taken two long, anxious days, but we'd reached our destination. It took about three hours of intense Internet research, but we'd finally figured out where the possible location where Savannah was being held.

Harlow had googled "recent kidnapping in Peru", and though we'd found so many results, she'd narrowed it down to a bunch of articles about kidnappings that had happened in the last month by apparently the same person. The key thing we'd found that was interesting was that only certain people had been kidnapped, ones that were children, and children that were physically and emotionally different from other people. Immediately we'd thought of us, because we _were _different, we were mutants.

After that we'd looked up the name of the possible kidnapper, Vladimir Gustof, who the Peruvian police have been suspecting, and found a column about him.

_Police are searching frantically for Vladimir Gustof, suspected in the kidnappings of several different teenagers across Peru. Gustof, a middle aged man with a checkered past, has chosen unusual targets for his apprehensions: all of his victims have either seemingly mental illnesses or displayed severe antisocial behavior for unknown reasons, and /or withdrawing from society. Thus far, none of those kidnapped have been located or rescued, despite a months-long manhunt for them and Gustof. With the kidnappings scattered all across the country with seemingly no locational pattern, police never know when or where Gustof will strike next, and are forced to simply react to each new case. Gustof's face has only been captured a few times in the last decade, making it difficult to accurately portray him. Furthermore, Gustof leaves hardly a trace when he strikes, giving police scant evidence or clues_

_From what police can gather about his past Gustofs Russian born parents who moved to Peru to escape economic pressuress in Russia were gruesomely murdered when he was a young child. This presumably caused great trauma and turmoil in his life as he moved from foster home to foster home. According to school records, the young Gustof was a recalcitrant student, always causing trouble and pulling pranks, yet performed brilliantly in certain classes. When he graduated, Gustof chose not to attend college, and from that point, the record is fuzzy, yielding only small tidbits of secondhand information. Gustof possibly engaged in petty crime while he worked as a systems analyst for PlusPetrol-the largest oil company in Peru. Rumors that he was seen running a small computer repair business in downtown Lima have also spread throughout the country._  
><em>The national police have offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of Gustof or the finding of any of his victims. Government officials are encouraging anyone with tips to call the tip hotline 24-7<em>

"Woah" Harlow had whispered. "I think we found our guy." Ash and Felix, who were seemingly slower readers, finished a few moments later with puzzled looks. "I didn't understand half of that." Felix said, "but is this the guy that kidnapped Savannah?" Ash crossed her arms. "It looks like it. The guy said that this Vlada-somthing only kidnapped people who were like, special. So obviously, since we're mutants, they took Savannah, right? It makes sense!"

I had nodded. "That's exactly what it sounds like, and Lima, Peru, is the right place to start."

So now we were here, and everything had _seemed_ so great except for the fact that we didn't know exactly what we were going to _do_ once we got here. "The article said that our badguy is rumoured to own a computer repair shop? Is _that_ where we should start?" Indy asked, still looking like she hasn't totally gotten over her fear of heights.

I raked a hand through my hair and was almost surprised not to see pieces coming out. "That article was a few weeks old. Wouldn't that shop be the first place the police would look if they had a lead like that?" Then Indy glared at me. "I hate your stupid logic! We should just look freaking anyway!" She growled, looking like she wanted to kick me. Then she took a deep breath. "Sorry." She then said, calmly. Ash giggled. "I agree. Like, we should just check there anyway. As you said, it's the only lead we have."

The only downside to our new plan was that there were a grand total of 9 million people in this city, and the odds of us not being spotted were stacked against us. We flew for at least seven miles, searching for a spot that we'd probably not be seen, and ended up having to walk to get back to the inner city. Then, of course, we ran into another problem.

"If we can't understand a single person here, then how on earth are we going to find her?" Felix asked, reached for Harlow's hand. I felt bad because he looked very uncertain and very young, and to tell you the truth, my heart was pounding a little faster too. Ash's eyes were huge as she stared at anything and everything we walked past, too distracted by the lights and glam to be scared of being virtually alone, except for her flock. Even Indy walked a little closer to me, I think. "We will." Harlow reassured Felix. "We'll try to find someone who speaks English, and ask for some sort of directions."

"Doesn't that seem a little simple?" Felix asked. "There's got to be someone around here somewhere that knows English." I said, a little doubtfully. Then, deciding randomly to take a chance, I approached someone on the street. "Hello." I said, slowly. "Do you speak English?" The man, who looked around thirty, raised an eyebrow at us and backed off, and I heard Nudge giggle. "He thinks you're a creeper."

I turned around and rolled my eyes at her, looking for someone else to ask. "Do you speak English?" I asked the younger woman. She smiled a little and tugged my arm, motioning me toward someone else. "He speak English." She pronounced carefully, as if she'd been practicing for awhile. I looked over to where she was pointing and saw another young man who looked similar to the first. My flock trailed after me as I hurried to this person, smiling. "Do you speak English?" I asked .

The man looked up from where he'd been weaving some sort of cloth. "Hello." He said, reserved. His eyes flickered over to Harlow and then back to me, and then I knew that Harlow was using her odd skill to make the man like her. "We have a question." Harlow said, bending a little to meet the man's gaze. "Do you know of any privately owned computer-repair businesses in the area? It might have to do with some sort of crime."

The man's face turned very cold and very closed-off very fast. "Who wants to know?" He almost snarled, looking around quickly as if someone was overhearing us. "We do." I replied, motioning toward my flock. The man rubbed his hand through his short black hair and leaned in close. "Do you mean Vladimir's supposed business? Take my advice, stay away from even thinking about that. Do NOT get involved."

With his accent it was sort of hard to understand him, but we all got the message loud and clear. Were we going to listen? Heck no...

~

Even though the man had given us little information besides that Vladimir was obviously our culprit, we still didn't know where we'd ever find him. The man on the street didn't know where the exact address was, but he did know it was in this city, which we already know. Ash brought up the idea again about going to a library to look it up, but if everything was in Spanish or Aymara, we couldn't understand it and it'd be pretty much pointless.

We began walking in another direction, deciding to go try and ask help from another person, when Harlow tucked her arm through mine. "I hate it here." She whispered to me, so only I could hear. "I feel so lost."

What she said reminded me so much of what Savannah would do that it made me feel sick and anxious all over again. I gave her hand a tiny squeeze. "I know. We'll get Savannah and go." I muttered back, grateful for the support. It was super nice to have a close friend like Harlow to hang on to when things were hard, but it was so much better when it was your best friend and love of your life. And right now, even though I missed her more than ever, it was okay. You know why? Because I was going to rescue her _tonight. _

"Excuse me? Ma'am?" Felix must have said for the thousandth time, smiling up at a lady who looked somewhat-American. "Yes?" The lady asked, turning and smiling down at him. I almost laughed at the expression on Felix's face when she spoke back to him...Nine out of ten times the people frowned at him and moved on, not understanding him. "Uh...I have a computer that needs fixing, is there a computer shop nearby?" He asked with a totally innocent face, and even I was impressed. The lady smiled a tiny bit, but had the same weird expression as the man before. Did _everyone_ know about Vladimir?

"Uh, well, there's one a few blocks away from here, actually." The woman said, relatively normally. "What are a bunch of American kids like you doing here by yourselves in Peru?" She asked, pretending to scold. Felix fidgeted. Indy stepped forward. "Our parents sent us out looking because they felt sick. Would you maybe please tell us where this shop is?" She said, in a pleasant voice.

The lady gave us directions but I was only halfway listening because I was so amused by Indy. She could seriously turn on the act when needed, but it was so weird at the same time. "...And then it'll be the first shop on that street." The lady instructed. We turned to go but then I felt her grab my elbow. "Oh, and honey?" She said, eyes boring into mine, "mind your own business, kay?"

A cold shiver went through my spine as we trooped off down the little streets, towards the shop she'd given us directions to. After about ten minutes or so with Harlow leading us, we stopped. "Well, this is it." She declared. Then her eyes casted down to Andrew, and back up to me. _What are we going to do with him?_ Her eyes asked. This was our first "mission" and it'd be pretty much stupid to bring a four year old with us, no matter how much training he'd had. It'd be like bringing kitten on a battlefield.  
>"Harlow, Indy," I said, very quietly, making a split-second Leader Decision, "you stay with the kids. I'm doing this mission alone."<p>

**Okay! So, I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS STORY! I've been so busy yet kicking myself every single day to write this, and I PROMISE I'M GOING TO FINISH. But here's basically my daily schedule: Wake up, 5am. Leave for school, 5:45am. Weight training, start school at 7:20, get out of school at 1:30, dive practice from 2pm-4pm, homework from 4:30 till whenever I'm done, usually a couple of hours, and by THEN, all I do is be with friends for what little time I have left of the day. Ugh. So again, I'm SOOO sorry, but I WILL finish this story, no matter what. **


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